116 



flat rate of 4O/- per cubic ton in the refrigerating chambers, and 

 2 5/~ P er cu bic ton for citrus and hard fruits in .the ventilated 

 hold at a guaranteed temperature found to be suitable. Our view 

 is that the day Sir Owen Phillips and the Union Government 

 came to this agreement, and mutually recognised that quality 

 should have preferent space over quantity, was the day on which 

 our industry was permanently established as a world product, and 

 as a product which would be looked upon with favour by the 

 world's handlers, both wholesale houses and retail stores. 



The following statistics of export in cases for the last sixteen 

 years clearly shows our expension : 



1899 . . . 10,817 1907 . . . 82,355 



1900 . . . 17.336 1908 i? 2 >9 22 



1901 . . . 17,265 1909 . . . i73>99 2 



1902 . . . 14,998 1910 . . . 201,871 



1903 ... 21,968 1911 ... 234,208 



1904 ... 34,7 2 3 i9 12 - 2 96,9^3 



1905 ... 23,832 1913 ... 241,282 



1906 . . . 59,866 1914 . . 445.M 



ex. Cape Town only. 



The above figures will shew that the quantities exported have 

 steadily advanced, except a single year here and there, where 

 drought, excessive rains, or other local conditions have restricted 

 the packing for export for the season. 



The most extraordinary fact and one of particular promise 

 is this that in spite of such heavy increases in the amounts ex- 

 ported (practically 200 per cent, between the years 1902 and 

 1912) the prices realised have been steadily advancing year by 

 year. This is due to the fact that the very high quality of our 

 fruit has become known and the increased care and attention paid 

 to the packing has been realised by the salesmen in Europe and 

 America. This has been due largely to the practical regulations 

 framed by the Government under the Fruit Export Act, and the 

 sympathetic and helpful manner in which the regulations have 

 been carried out by the officials of the Government at the Docks. 

 Also by the energy and enthusiasm which the Union Trades 

 Commissioner, Mr. C. du P. Chiappini, has put into this section 

 of his work. Mr. Chiappini, after ten years of patient and up- 

 hill work for us in London, is an optimist an out and out opti- 

 mist so far as our future is concerned, and in an interview with 

 the Cape Times only this last week predicted that in ten years' 

 time our export would total three million cases covering all classes 

 of fruit. Surely this is a result well worthy of the many strug- 

 gles of the early pioneers of commercial orcharding throughout 

 the Union. 



