NIAGARA DISTRICT FRUIT MEN. 



HN important meeting of fruit 

 growers was held at St. Catha- 

 rines on Friday the 17 th Feb- 

 ruary, at which commission 

 merchants and railway men from To- 

 ronto, Ottawa and Montreal were 

 present, and also Messrs. Bain and Gib- 

 son, members for Wentworth and Lin- 

 coln. 



The commission men were blamed 

 for selling fruit by auction, for selling all 

 grades of fruit at the same price, for 

 wholesaling to themselves, and then 

 retailing at a much higher price for 

 which the grower got no account ; for 

 using the fruit, which is the property of 

 the growers, for competing with other 

 commission merchants, etc. 



To these points the commission men 

 replied, pointing out that in some cases 

 the auctioji system was a good means of 

 getting the fairest price for each man's 

 goods, for thereby all packages were sold 

 wholly on their merits ; that the best com- 

 mission men were these who confined 

 themselves to the wholesale work, which 

 some did not do ; that usually packages 

 of fruit were classified according to 

 gTades, at once on arrival, and sold ac- 

 cordingly, but that on a slumpy market 

 all fruit would be sold in bulk without 

 distinction of grades. 



The subject of transportation of fruit 

 was taken up in the afternoon, and it 

 was shown that we need (1) better ven- 

 tilation for cars which carry fruit, by 

 means of a rapid circulation of air; (2) 

 lower rates to Manitoba, which would 

 result in a largely increased vol- 

 ume of trade; (3) greater speed or 

 dispatch, especially for small lots. 



Mr. Clemes of Toronto said he could 

 find little fault with the ventilation of 

 cars coming into Toronto, from any 



1 



points in Ontario ; but the methods 

 of packing a car were bad. The Flor- 

 ida shippers take pride in loading a car, 

 and it is done with such system that it 

 is worth anyone's time to see; Cana- 

 dians too often ship in a higglede-piggle- 

 dy manner. 



Mr. Callahan of Montreal thought the 

 service very good to Montreal, the new 

 refrigerator cars, fitted with Clark's pa- 

 tent, and numbering from 50,000 and 

 upwards, are well ventilated. The rates 

 could not be better than last year, 33c. 

 a hundred from Toronto to Montreal. 



Mr. Hunt of Ottawa thought that with 

 well ventilated cars it was not neces- 

 sary to use ice on short distances. Mr. 

 Albert Pay said the kind of cars fur- 

 nished by the Grand Trunk in 1898 

 were a disgrace — dirty with coal dust, 

 patched up floors, and generally shabby. 



Mr. Robinson, representing the G T. 

 R , said that in 1898 fifty of the Clark's 

 patent ventilated cars ran between St. 

 Catharines and Montreal, and in 1899 

 there would be about 500 of them in 

 use for fruit growers, but he would not 

 advise their use without ice. 



Mr. E. D. Smith said even these cars 

 were not sufficiently ventilated. The 

 opening is only about four inches in 

 diameter, entirely too small ; it should 

 be three feet wide, a foot high, and 

 placed in front of the car, with a wire 

 screen to protect from dust. 



Mr. Grant of the C. P. R. said their 

 ventilated cars had an opening at the 

 ends three feet high and two feet wide, 

 with a sheet of wire cloth to protect 

 from dust. 



Regarding rates to Manitoba, he said 

 these had now been lowered 2>2> P er 

 cent., and were now as low as anywhere 

 else on the continent. The rate for 

 apples from Ontario to Winnipeg was 

 01 



