214 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



CO-OPERATION IN THE PINEAPPLE INDUSTRY. 



The pineapple industry of the Hawaii Islands, as it stands to-day, is the result 

 of some fifteen years of experiment and extension. The pioneers in the industry are 

 now face to face with the work of those who, profiting by the experience of others, 

 have largely avoided the errors of earlier cultivators, with the result that the past 

 five years have seen a large addition to the acreage under cultivation. The agri- 

 cultural end seems well in hand, and providing wise counsels prevail future years 

 will see the development enormously increased. If the growing of pineapples is to 

 be a profitable venture, the preparation and marketing of the fruit deserves and 

 demands the earnest consideration of the growers. 



Up to the present time the marketing of fresh fruit has been accomplished 

 by the individual grower forwarding to some commission house at the coast the 

 product of his ranch as it matured. The condition of the fruit market in general 

 and the trade in pineapples in particular entered but slightly into the calculations 

 of the man with fruit that must be disposed of on hand. Thus, at one season or 

 another, all shippers of fresh fruit have been more or less seriously "nipped" with 

 the result that at times the freight expenses have equalled and in some cases even 

 exceeded the price obtained. Market conditions on the mainland are such that we 

 have not as yeb supplied even the yearly increase in consumption of the canned 

 fruit ; but with the development now in progress it is only a question of a very short 

 time when Hawaiian canned fruit will be displacing the product of Singapore, the 

 West Indies and Florida, and those countries which hitherto have enjoyed a mono- 

 poly of the trade. When this takes place will come the real test as to the future of 

 the pineapple industry in this territory. 



Comparing the average product of the several canneries now operating in 

 these Islands with that from other countries, the conclusion must be that the local 

 fruit is superior to all other in flavour, colour, uniformity, and freedom from eyes 

 and specks. Finally in the style of package and label the Hawaiian product compares 

 favorably with the finest mainland canned goods. To this extent at least — the local 

 canning business has been wisely handled, and it is the duty of all interested to see 

 that the standards thus created are not only maintained, but if possible improved, 

 a task which will increase in ratio with the increase in the number of canneries. 

 Already we experience the effects of the moderate competition of products of local 

 canneries, and this factor of local competition is likely to be as effective in disposing 

 of margins of profits and inviting a departure from established standards as could be 

 the competition with goods from older sources of supply. The inevitable consequences 

 of such a condition, if permitted to develop would be most discouraging to those 

 dependent on the industry, and this brings us to a consideration of the best course of 

 avoiding such an undesirable condition of affairs. This must be sought in co-oper- 

 ation—and such co-operation as will permit the several conjoining elements to still 

 retain their identity and individuality to the utmost possible limit. To accomplish 

 this the several growers throughout the group should enter into agreements placing 

 the control of the business in the hands of a Board of Control representing the several 

 interests thus conjoined. The purposes and objects of the Board would be 

 as follows :— 



1st.— To establish an agent at the several distributing centres on the Pacific 

 Coast for the disposal of fresh fruit. 



2nd.— To fix, from time to time, a minimum price at which fresh fruit is 

 to be sold. 



