788 



Imperial Fruit Show. 



[Dec, 



against each other, but that districts should compete, and we 

 were organising such an Exhibition when the " Daily Mail " 

 came along and suggested something on an even bigger scale, 

 and that was The Imperial Fruit Show. To-day we have an 

 Exhibition not only of the British Isles but of the Empire. I 

 wish more could be represented, but as it is our Empire exhibits 

 are chiefly from Canada, our oldest Dominion. It would have 

 been better if South Africa, Australia, and Tasmania could 

 have competed, but they are in the Southern Hemisphere — 

 their spring is our autumn — and it is impossible, therefore, to 

 arrange such an exhibition. Here, at all events, you will see 

 the very best of the Old Country competing on even terms with 

 the best of the great New Country — Canada." 



The Exhibition here is a very remarkable one. Ten 

 thousand packages of apples from the United Kingdom and 

 Canada. Three thousand pounds worth of prizes. Exhibitions 

 in Packing and Grading, and Cider Making Demonstrations. 

 All these we can see here, and there is a great deal to learn." 



" I am here to open this Exhibition as the responsible 

 Minister of Agriculture. I am Minister for a great many 

 things, including horticulture and fruit growing, which form 

 an indispensable part of the great industry of agriculture. 

 We realise that horticulture is a most important depart- 

 ment of the Ministry of Agriculture. First of all it is the 

 class of agriculture where you get the most intensive culti- 

 vation, and where you get the very best possible out of the 

 land. It employs people possessing a great deal of skill and 

 technical knowledge, and is therefore a very highly specialised 

 industry. Secondly, it employs the greatest possible amount of 

 labour on the land, and one of the most important things at 

 the present time is the keeping of the people on the land. 

 Thirdly, horticulture — fruit-growing — produces very necessary 

 articles of human food. ' An apple a day keeps the doctor 

 away,' and the more we consume the better for the health of 

 the community. What I want to see is this : not only more 

 apples consumed but more fruit generally. I also want to see 

 more fruit grown here, and the fruit that we cannot grow here 

 I want to see imported from the British Empire and not from 

 foreign countries." 



" The latest figures* give an area of about 220,000 acres 

 under fruit. Of that area 150,000 acres grew apples. We 

 might estimate the apple crop at about 450,000 tons, but, 



* In England and Wales. 



