45 



of Agriculture to lessen freights for fruit carrying, though as yet 

 there had not been much result. 



Mr. Allen, as an old grower and exporter of fruit, said he 

 fully endorsed the remarks of Mr. Lang and Mr. Draper as to the 

 closeness of the places where the cases were packed. He packed 

 a case of apples for a friend last year, and they were put on board 

 at once in his bunk. When he got home to Glasgow he opened 

 the case, and the fruit was in first-class order. Not a single apple 

 had gone bad, and the fruit-buyers there said that they would take 

 erery year 15,000 to 20,000 bushels of apples in that condition. 

 There was 'a soiree in his native place, and he put the Australian 

 apples on the table, and the people were very glad to get hold of 

 them. They soon disappeared. Without ventilation, no doubt 

 they must go rotten, so that it appeared that by allowing ventila- 

 tion they would carry just as well in the hold of the vessels. He 

 thought that the Grovernment ought to grant bonuses for the 

 canning and drying of fruits. 



Mr. W. W. Capon, of Mildura, said as to the remarks about 

 asking the Grovernment for a further bonus for growing, he 

 thought it was quite unnecessary. The Government had treated 

 them very well, and if they could not export dried fruits on the 

 present bonus, the sooner they went out of the business the better. 

 There was no analogy ■with the wineries. The successful man in 

 fruit-growing must dry the fruit on his own place. Carting would 

 deteriorate the value of the fresh fruit. In the case of ripe 

 apricots, for instance, they would be crushed in carrying. It was 

 simpUcity itself to dry apricots or raisins, and it could be done 

 much better on a man's own place than could be done if he sent 

 them to a central dep6t. The experience of all fruit-growers 

 would bear him out that if they wanted to make the drying of 

 fruit a success they must learn the business for themselves, and 

 effect the drying on their own premises. When they went in for 

 the export trade they would need to have a packing house where 

 the goods could be graded. They had that at Mildura. Each 

 man was credited with a certain quantity of cwts. or tons of a 

 certain grade. He thought it would be unfair to ask the Govern- 

 ment for a further bonus, as the individual grower now got a bonus 

 for the fruit he dried. 



Mr. Bertuch said very few had engaged in the industry of 

 fruit-drying yet, but the number was increasing, and he hoped 

 that others would follow through seeing the experiments made. 

 He indorsed the remarks of the previous speakers that the fruit for 

 drying required to be in a sound ripe state, when it was not fit to 

 be carried away. It was better to carry on the process of drying 

 at the place where the fruit was grown. He had dried fruit in 

 all stages. There were many kinds of plums which had been 



