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but they were put in the galley, and they were delivered at one 

 of the British ports in as good a condition as they were in on the 

 day they were packed. They were the same kind of grapes, and 

 packed in the same way, as those that were spoiled in the cool 

 chambers. They were Gordo Blanco grapes. 



Mr. Ckaike stated that the G-eelong fruit-growers had been 

 discouraged in exporting by the reports of the unequal condition 

 in which the fruits arrived, though they were all packed the same 

 way. One shipment brought a fair price and another arrived in 

 bad order. Pears were universally reported rotten. They needed 

 to find a reason for that. At the time of the International Ex- 

 hibition the fruit-growers were invited to send home fruit. They 

 sent a good many cases of pears from Geelong, and the report 

 was that they arrived in good condition and fetched fair prices. 

 He agreed with Mr. Lang that the want of care on board ship 

 was the reason fruit went bad. He would suggest that the keep- 

 ing quality of pears should be tested in a cool chamber here to 

 find out the time taken to ripen, so as to send varieties that would 

 ripen just on arriving at the home market. The fruit was taken 

 straight from the trees and put in close places, and there was 

 natural fermentation that made so many go bad. As to exporting 

 dried fruits and canned fruits, he thought that the difficulty would 

 lie in the backwardness of associations as to canning. He did not 

 know whether there was any bonus given for equipping factories 

 for drying canned fruit. 



Mr. Maktin. — Yes, in the bonus regulations. 



Mr. Ceaike. — The great difficulty was the general want of 

 capital on the part of the growers for the purpose of starting these 

 new industries, and he thought they ought to get the same en- 

 couragement as the wine-growers in the shape of a bonus, say of 

 £1 per £1 for building and equipping drying factories. That 

 would at once give an immense impetus, and secure a better 

 market for fruit. The price had been coming down year by year, 

 and the exportation of green fruit had not been successful. They 

 must send the very best they could grow. Thousands of cases of 

 plums and apples which were now all wasted might be well dried, 

 and find a ready market at very remunerative prices. He believed 

 that pears would always bring a high price, and if experiments 

 could be made as to the kinds which would suit best a very great 

 amount of useful information would be gained as to shipments. 

 The apple crop this year was very light, but as a compensating 

 matter the quality was very good. If all the growers would 

 follow Mr. Lang's example they would come out right in the end. 

 The great mistake made last year was in the shipment of inferior 

 fruit. He had been pleased to see the efforts of the Department 



