THE TRANSPORTATION OF OUR FRUIT. 



up close, they will get up to 70° in the centre 

 of the barrel in a short time. If put in the 

 hold of the ship, the whole place soon goes 

 above- 70°, and the apples will all arrive in 

 " slacks " and " wets." In 1897 a lot of over 

 500 barrels was sent over, and the half that 

 went in cold storage sold for 18/ a brl., and 

 the half that went not in cold storage sold for 

 8/ a brl. at the same time. I think I am safe 

 in saying that 60% of the apples that go to 

 Great Britain fetch less than two-thirds they 

 would fetch if they were properly graded, 

 properly packed and safely carried, across the 

 sea. 1 think if the Fruit Growers' Associa- 

 tion of Ontario does not take hold of this 

 transportation problem and bring about bet- 

 ter methods and facilities, they may as well 

 go out of the business. The growing of fruit 

 has been very well attended to, but there has 

 been so much loss and dissatisfaction from the 

 spoiling of fruit on the way to the markets, 

 both home and foreign, that the matter must 

 be taken hold of and corrected." 



Considerable discussion followed both 

 on the subject of ocean and railway 

 transportation, resulting in the appoint- 

 ment of two committees to take up 

 these matters in earnest, appealing to 

 the other provincial societies for co- 

 operation ; and if necessary, to appeal 

 to the Dominion Minister of Agricul- 

 ture. The Committees on Transporta- 

 tion were as follows : Ocean, L. Wool- 

 verton, W. M. Orr, and A. H. Pettit. 

 Railway, W. E. Wellington, W. M. Orr, 

 Alex. McNeil), M*. Pettit, E. D. Smith, 

 T. Carpenter, R. W. Gregory and W. H. 

 Bunting. 



These committees met jointly at the 

 Walker House, Toronto on the 3rd of 

 March, and after a full discussion, pre- 

 pared the following resolution on Ocean 

 Transportation of Fruit : 



Whereas, the accommodation on Atlantic 

 steamships has hitherto been unsuitable to 

 the carriage of our fruits, even such hard 

 fruits as apples beiug ruined in transit and 

 arriving in the British market in an unsalable 

 condition, although in perfectly sound condi- 

 tion when packed and shipped ; and 



Whereas, the lack of ventilation, and the 

 great heat in the holds of the vessels, added 



to the heat arising from the fruit itself, con- 

 tributes to this evil, which has resulted in 

 immense losses to the fruit growers in every 

 province of our Dominion ; 



Therefore, Resolved, — That we memorialize 

 the Department of Agriculture at Ottawa to 

 take steps to remedy this serious condition of 

 affairs, and thus give encouragement to one 

 of the most important of our exports ; that 

 ventilation of the holds in which apples are 

 carried be strictly required of steamship com- 

 panies in order that the temperature be kept 

 similar to that of the outside air ; and that a 

 government agent be employed at each of 

 the important ports, as Montreal, St. Johns 

 and Halifax, whose duty it shall be to see 

 that such ventilation is attended to, and, fur- 

 ther, to insist upon proper care in handling, 

 loading and storage of our fruits on shipboard ; 



Further, that, when cold storage for fruit 

 is provided on shipboard, the steamship com- 

 panies shall be required to guarantee that the 

 temperature will be kept within certain limits, 

 and that the same be verified by a self-regis- 

 tering thermometer placed under government 

 seal. 



and the Secretary was ordered to send 

 copies to local fruit growers associations 

 and to the provincial societies most 

 interested in export, as for example : 

 Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Prince Ed- 

 ward Island, suggesting that they pass 

 similar resolutions, which could all be 

 forwarded* by our Secretary to the Do- 

 minion Minister of Agriculture. 



The next question dealt with was the 

 better classification of freight rates on 

 fruit ; better ventilation of box cars for 

 long hauls ; and greater speed in tran- 

 sit. The following gentlemen were 

 made a sub committee to carefully re- 

 vise the freight classification, and to 

 interview the Freight Classification Com- 

 mittee at Toronto, place fairly before 

 them our grievances and seek for the 

 requisite concessions, viz.: Messrs. E. 

 D. Smith, T. H. P. Carpenter, Alex. 

 McNeill and W. H. Bunting. 



We anxiously await the result. 



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