WE) 1o1oW just hoW you fe.e1 aboul baby! You want hinl-or her-to be perfect. ·No 11alf measures for you! Nothing less than the sturtliesl young·ster in the t1istrict will satisfY

yon. f-'h ·: Rig·h'c footl is your greatest assistant in bring\11!~ full health to the chiltl. swalloW Rll'l Adell's Mill~ Arrowroot Biscuits \un·e long· heen recognised by ,,,ecJicos. nursE'S, ant1 mothers as an \dNcl bRbY food. 'fheY huild up! ']'heir foocl value is c1l1c1oubtec1, fol' their ingre<1ients are fresh, creamY mill< ancl purest

·• rrowroot, in C'Orrect proportions. Asl::: your g-rocer for

2 The Australian Dried Fruits News. April 15, 1928.

The Romance of the Australian Iron and Steel lnd us tries. No. 1

Back in the early days of Australia, over a hundred years ago, great excite­ment was caused among the early set­tlers by the discovery of coal in New South Wales.

tion of local requirements. The settlers were, however, made of stern stuff, and, just as the early agricul­tlirists and the early pastoralists stuck to the land and succeeded in spite of every obstacle, so ):;hese early iron founders kept going, one after the other, allowing no defeat to intimidate, no obstacle to daunt them,

Newcastle, or Coal Creek, as it was then called, became the second settle­me11t of the young colony. , The impor­tance of the discovery was at once recognised, and the deposits were quick­ly developed,

In 1912, a fresh development took place, when the erection of the great steel works at Newcastle was decided upon.

It was some years afterwards that the cleposi ts of iron ore we1·e discovered. The first attempt at smelting iron ore was made in 1848, at Mittagong, It failed.

Twenty-seven years , later, the first blast furnace was blown in at Eskbanl' in Lithgow Valley, New South Wales. Two years later the infant works were producing 100 tons of pig iron per week from iron ore taken from the surround­ing district. Production continued until 1882, over 4000 tons being produced in that year.

For some time the company had been in difficulties owing to overseas impor­tations and the opposition of the hard­ware trade in Sydney, and, in 1886, Mr. W. Sandford took over the works.

For the next 21 years they were con­tinuously employed in the manufacture of bar iron, rails, and other iron and steel products, imported pig iron and local scrap iron being used,

Mr. Sandford had a very hard strug­ble, and, in 1907, found himself unable to continue. The works were then acquired by M,essrs. G. and C. Hoskins, under whose control they have been ever since.

The story of the early history of the iron and steel industry is a story of continual struggle against great and ever-increasing odds.

It was impossible for these early iron founders to get the latest and best machinery. They could not tum out a great variety of products, and were, consequently, only able to supply a por-

An area of, 900 acres was secured with an extensive water frontage. The land was swampy, and could only be regarded as an eyesore to the neighbour­hood. Piles had to be driven to provide foundations, the land had to be drained, considerable filling-in had to be clone, but, finally, all these troubles being overcome, the first blast furnace was blown in on April 9, 1915, and the first rail was rolled on April 24 of that year.

The establishment of the industry has already been of outstanding benefit to Australia. Already nearly four million tons of iron and steel have been pro­duced at the Newcastle works alone. Various subsidiary industries have been established in or near Newcastle for the production of galvanised iron, fencing wire, wire netting, road tar, fire bricks, tyres and axles, structural steel, wire ropes, and many other minor articles.

When it is remembered that all these are produced entirely from Australian raw material, the increase which has re­sulted to the wealth of Australia is al­most incalculable. The iron ore is dug out of Australian ground, the coal comes from Australian mines, the lime­stone is obtained from the great de­nosits in Tasmania and New South Wales, and throughout nothing but Aus­tralian labour is used.

The snecial importance of this indus­try to Dried Fruit producei's rests in the fact that everv iron and steel work­Pol' is a notential consumer of Australian Dried Fruits.

1'he Australian Dried Fruits News. 3 April 15, 1928.

Californian Vine Fruits Pull Out Sub-standard Vines and Save Industry

(Extract from "The Bee.")

Fresno, California.

Editor of "The Bee."-Sir-~eing . . much in earnest in advocatmg a ',~b;tantial reduction in our grape. and ~·aisin production, I a~. addGressm.g ,r;1Y

t , to "Fellow Ralsm roweis .. le\ ehave been identified with th~ m-duitry for nearly 40 year.s,, botl~cl~eJ~ raisin grower and a ra1sm P . ,

1·

As a packer, I have no axe to gnn\. The more raisins there are to ,/ta~~

d sell the more money I oug 1 anl b'ut as a raisin grower I am mace, vitally interested.

From my viewpoint, I cml s~~te ml)llatl·cally. Over-proc uc 1on very e · · f ·

l been the cause of all our gne m laS . . 'ndustry during the present the ra1sm l ' · ell as long iJeriod of. depressi.?n, as lv the

ll such prevwus penods. n . :arly periods of depression a:~ll eqln ~ librium was restored more rap!. y, or

. good reasons: Thele was i~:~ wi~~ faith in the possibilities 0~ co-operative accomphshmenbt, at~ll

J Jortunities of su stan Ia more ~I I t . larging· the con-colTIIJhshmen m en . l ac t' demand through pnce ac-sump lVe .. justments and publicity. . . ' These opportunities are Jackmg now-we have be~n "runmng on

. , " f . a long tune-we hav~ .no h1gh

01 • left Our advertismg

reserv~ pmy~I whicil we spent fifteen c~mf~~~~~ million dollars thes? l~st 01 · d rfully effective few years, was won e . "t t " for a time in developmg a l asl e t f r raisins; but we r~achec. 'Y.l~ r::i ·ht be called "saturatiOn pomt m thi~ country some years ago ;l'al1d, no~

, all we can hope .to accomp JS 1 lS hold what we gamed.

1 The raisin industr.y r~ached t 1e . 't of its prospenty m 1917-20,

c1es , d' t 1 after the during and nnme 1a e Y t , 1 world war. There was an unna ma

l d for the product, both as food c em an T • • n growers and drink. v\ e, a.s l'~lSl l d .~ became over-enthusmstlc, anc un ei took to plant every available acre on which we could get water. The _re~

, ;;ult was we increased our bearmg

II l , f gTapes from acreap'e of a c asses o c • 600 000 "00 000 acres in 1919 to ovei ' u ' . 1926 OUI' I'aisin acreage from •teres m ' "·o OUO l70,000 acres in 1919 to over ub ' acres in 1926.

That is what has ~n:acti.cally ~.uin~~ the grape and rmsm mdust y . California. It wasn't poor ma_n~~e­

t undm· the Griffin Associa IOn 1nen ~ th . reg·ime. We reg·ime or any o el h

' tn't blame t e men, raisin growers mus 1

t' but the conditions. Over-proc uc IOn , s the cause of all our troubles: We ~hould look this fact squarely m the face, admit it, and seek the only pre-sent rmr.edv. . .

I would not advocate the. ehlmna~ tion of any of our .acreage If sa\~

1 of increasmg our cm~sum~J a c 1ance b b some tune m tive demand to a sor are the immedi~t~ fl\~ll'lll~t:\aft~ flve now producmg. ac t lanage­rem·s ago when the presen n < d

> ' f th association took hol ' ment o e · th m every but was . willing . to. ~}"~ th~y might o[J}Jortumty. hopmg 1a t'

l . 1 But what do our sta lS-ma m gooc · . 1 1 · rely tics during this perwc cone usn prove? ,

'-'"0 000 acres of vVe have some oJD ' c , . 'sin grapes-Thompsons, muscats

lall ltanas The g·overnment crop anc su ' c • f 11 · · · ~-eporting service figures a u 11 a~sld t 400 000 tons. A norma yle

crop a ' . d 8" . 90 per , ·I t be cons1dere as ,J 01

~~~ft 1 of a full crop. We rarely .have f ;ll crop. we rarely have a fmlure.

~Vet are liable to have a full crop ~n~ . tl1e near future. Howe' el' year m 'd d

the last two years may be consl ere. fair!; norma!'. We havfe ha~ .appr~~h

t .1 285 000 tons o ralsms e ma e Y ' · 1 t of 50 000 tons year and the eqmva en ' inor~, shipped in green form-some 15,000 cars of muscats and Thomp­sons grapes.

Now compare consumption ~gures, measured by shirn:nentsfifor wh1chTh: have transportatiOn gures. avemge for the last five yell:rs ;e~.ms. to be about 232,000 tons-t!us mOn~ a period of very low pnces. m

,;_-·

4 The Australian Dried Fruits News. April 15, 1928.

.shipments in 1926 were onlv GOOO 8000 tons in excess of 1922 in of ~ substant!al g~in in tl~e export 111ai kets. It IS evident we did not l10ld our own at home. '~'e have accumulated a surplus, I think close to 80,000 tons, can'ied from 1926 into the season of 1927. We are liable to have on October 1, 1928, 140,000 or 150,000 tons of old raisins on hand Who will say this is not a criticai .condition?

The fact is clearly established-we are producing more raisins than we can sell profitably-more than we can sell at unprofitable prices. Right here I w~nt to qu?te from the report of Chris L. Christensen (United States Departm~n~ .of Agriculture in charge of the diVISIOn of co-operative mar­]{eting) : "This means that farmers ~·enerally have got away from the Idea that by .merely orlo\·anising they can ~x the pnces of their products or readily change market conditions; and are now getting down to the bedrock of better pr<!du~tion, be~ter grading and standardisatiOn, efficient manage­ment and skilful adjustment of sup­ply to market demands."

vV ~ ha v~ given constructive methods a fan· trial the last five years at­tempting to bui_lcl up a dem'and ~qual to our productwn. vVe have failed and there is now only one practical remedy left for us : Cut down our pro­du~tion to balance a normal demand. ~his would seem to mean a reduc­tiOn of nearl:y 25 per cent. of our pre­sent production. How is this to be accomplished?

I maintain that self-interest as well as community interest, will 'ulti­mately solve our problem. The sooner we all realise the cause of the ~dtical c?nditions in the industry, the soo:t:er Will we have a return. of pros­p~nty. Prompt and logical action Will soon follow this realisation.

I have in the last few years pulled up. 111 goo~! many acres of vines. vVhen th.IS year s programme is completed I Will have uprooted about 150 acres. It hurts to stand by and see them come out, vines that have cost good money to plant and care for until maturity, but I have realised that it was a case of the "survival of the

fittest." vVhen all growers come to the S8;me cone! usion they will do like­\VIse,

A heavy producing vineyard is still a!1. asset, A poor vineyard Is a lia, b1hty to the owner, and to the indus­try. Let us study the industry's bal­ance sh~et: On tile one side the high grade vmeyards as an asset; on the other, the sub-standard vineyards as a liability. Eliminate the sub-standard vineyards-the industry's liabilities­and you are sure to materially in­crease_ the value of the assets. ' .

. In using the words "sub-standard vm~yards" ~ refer to tonnage, quality, vanety. V mes must produce heavy c~·ops or cost of production is exces­SIVe .. ~ grower producing two tons of ra1sms per acre will prosper where th.e grower with a one-ton vineyard Will s~arve. to death. The heavy­producmg vmeyard is likewise .a qual­Jty pr?clucer. 'fhe variety must com­ply w!th the demands of the public. ~n this respect, the Fehrzago and Malaga do not measure up, anc! should be the first to make way for the more P?PUlar varieties, suitable for ship­pmg or

1 drying.

vVe have over 350,00 acres of raisin vineyards in this State. We have never produced over a ton to the acre, on the average. Many vine­yards produce regularly one and a half to two tons. There must be at least an equal number producing less than a ton. These are what I would te~·m "sub-standard vineyards." They Will never pay the producer; they ar~ a menace to the industry. The sooner they come out the better for the owner, the better for everybody. They are bound to come' out sooner or later'· they .should come out now. There i~ sufficient sub-standard vineyard measured by this accepted yardstick to make a substantial hole in our pro­duction. I think enough to restore' a balance.

Practically every grower has some sub-standard vineyard-at least a P:trt of his vi~eyarcl. He is not. doing Ius duty to lmnself or to the ·indus­try until he eliminates that part. I have faith in the raisin growers. Our pro~lem is solved when every grower reahses the seriousness of the situa-

April 15, 19211. The Australian Dried Fruits News. 5

tion, realises that, if he wants to save his property, his land and his home, he must sacrifice some of his vines.

That should be the gospel preached in this valley. I submit this policy to the thinking men in this commun­ity, and the civic and publ.ic organis~­tions which have much mfiuence m shaping our destinies.-Yours respect-fully, CHARLES G, BONNER.

_January 3, 1928 -",

\Veight of Packages The Chairman of the Common­

wealth Dried Fruit Control Board has caused the follow:ng circular to be addressed to all packing organi­mtions:-

"It having been brought under notice that clients in Canada are representing the necessity for an official certificate of weight of Aus­tralian dr:ed fruits clue to the apparent discovery of irregular

weighing of packages, attention is drawn to the complaint in order that every care may' be exercised in packing sheds to ensure that the full weight 's packed, as even an occasional shortage tends to throw discredit- on the Australian dried fruit industry.

"It is realised that great care .is taken by the majority of the pack­ing organisations, and it is hoped that sim-ilar care will be given by all in v' ew of the importanc~ of maintaining the highest standard and reputation for Australian fruit in overseas markets."

French Imports of Raisins A consular report from Bordeaux.

France states that the total imports of raisins at Bordeaux for the nine months ended September, 1927, amounted to 631 short tons, of which 621 tons came from U.S.A., P, from Greece, and 2 from England.

"t llfllllllllltlllllllllllllllllll I I I Ill 1 U Ill U Ill U 1111 o u 110 t U ill I ol 1 IIi 1 lOll ollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll U 11111111111111111111111111111 I Ill til'

I LYSAGHT'S I ((Australian Made"

WIRE NETTI~G BARBED WIRE WIRE NAILS ZINC OXIDE

FENCING WIRE

I The Name that Stands for Quality ~ ~-=-,. __ , L YSA~:.!r.~~Ji:~!~~~~~o~!;"'ITED 1_.=-_.-==

Victorian Agents : GIBBS, BRIGHT & CO. _

~IUIIIJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIfllllllllllllllllllllllllo'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIfllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilll

-,..._ ..

6 The Australian Dried Fruits News. April 15, 1928.

Key to Commonwealth Account Sales

_J_

Vine Frmts Owing to space limitations an t l f

each fruit has been shown · f 'n accoun sa e . or only one grade of Bhowing all grades in eachf. u.t' Edery. gro:ver Is entitled to a full key tion to your packing shed or I~! than S thist Will AbeDforwai'ded on applica­Melbourne. e ecre ·ary, · .F.A., 450 Collins St.,

Victoria and New South Wales. SEASON 1928.

Cunants-3 Crown. ton, 2240 lbs., at

8d. per lb. (10 ton rate .. .. . . £74 13 4

Less 10 per cent. trade discount .. 7 9 4

67 4 0 Less- 3 per cent.

discount 2 0 4

65 3 8 Interstate charges 1 3 4

64 0 4 :Head Office levy 2 6

63 l'l iu ·Commission, 5 per

cent. .. . . 3 311

:Per ton . . . . . , £60 13 11 :Equal per lb. . . 6.503 . Equal per box. . 1 10 4.168

Less 3 per cent. discount .. 2 6 7

Interstate 75 7 5

charges 1 " 4 0

Head Office levy 74 4 1 .. 2 G

Commission, 5 per 74 1 ';

cent ......... 3 14 1

Per ton . . . . £70 7 6 Equal per lb. . . 7.540 Equal per box.. . 1 15 2.24

Railage and Cartage to the seaboard to be deducted.

Lexias and W althams-4 Crown. 1 to~ 2240 lbs., at

6;;;d. per lb. (10 ton rate) £63 0 0

Less 10 p~1: ~~nt. · trade discount .. 6 6 0

Railage and Cartage to the seaboard to be deducted. Less 3 per

56 14 0 cent.

Sultanas-3 Crown. 1 ton, 2240 lbs., at'

9~d. per lb. (10 ton rate) . . . . . . £86 6 8

Less 10 per cent. trade discount 8 12 8

77 14 0

discount ..

Interstate charges

Head Office levy ..

1 14 0

55 0 0 1 3 4

-----53 16 8

2 6

53 14 2

April 15, 1928. The Australian Dried Fruits:_::_N:_:_e::__:':_:_N'S::__:·:__ ______ 7

Commission, 5 per cent ...... · .. ·

Per ton .. Equal per lb. . . Equal per box ..

2 13 8

£51 0 6 5.466

1 5 6.096

Railage and Cartage to the seaboard to be deducted.

1

·',

South Australia Currants-3 Crown.

ton, 2240 lbs., at 8d. per lb. (10 ton rate) £74 13 4

Less 10 per cent. 7 9 4 trade discount ..

67 4 0

Less 3 per cent. discount .. 2 0 4

65 3 8 Interstate charges 2 14 0

62 9 8 Head Office levy .. 2 6

62 7 2 Commission, 5 per

cent. .. 3 2 4

Per ton . . £59 4 10 Equal per lb. . . 6.347 Equal per box. . 1 9 7.432

Railage and Cartage to the seaboard to be deducted.

1

Sultanas~3 Crown.

ton, 2240 lbs., at 9~d. per lb. (10 ton rate) . . . . . . £86 6 8

Less 10 per cent. trade discount . . 8 12 8

Less 3 per cent. discount ..

77 14 0

2 6 7

75 7 5

InteJ:stai,e cl1arges 2 14 0

72 13 5 Head Office levy . . 2 6

72 10 11 Commission, 5 per

cent. . . . . 3 12 9

Per ton . . . . . . . . £68 18 2 Equal per lb. . . . . 7.383 Equal per box.. . . 1 14 5.448

Railage and· Cartage to the seaboard to be deducted.

1

Lexias and Walthams-4 Crown.

ton, 2240 lbs., at 6!ld. per lb. (10 ton rate)

Less 10 per cent. t1·ade discount . .

Less "' '-' per cent. discount ..

Interstate charges

Head Office levy ..

Commission, 5 per cent. . . . . . .

Per ton .. Equal per lb. . . Equal per box ..

..

£63 0 0

6 6 0 -----

56 u 0

1 14 0

55 0 0 2 14 0

52 6 0 2 G

52 8 6

2 12 2

£49 11 4 5.31

1 4 9.36

Railage and Cartage to the seaboard to be deducted.

Commonwealth Sales to 31st March

SEASON 1928.

Currants .. Sultanas .. Lexias . . . .

196 tons. 319 tons.

7 tons.

I'

!-

:l1

I.,

8 The Australian Dried Fruits News. April '15, 1928. --------------------

CLEAN CITRUS

The Application oi

"C:loudform" Dusts

wm efiliectively check BROWN ox Citrus, and wiU dean £ruit and ioUage, o£ the unsightly sooty mould.

"'+='="-·-~~~~""""~....,.

DUST TWICE du&•alillg period Februar M N'l!AGARA DUSTER CUNy, arch, AprU, with the'

and "CLOUDFORM" DUSTS alll«!l bave bright clean fruit and healthy foliage.

CIUR LOCAL AGENTS can refer

who have successfuUy treated you to growers

Citrus in the

"C!oudiorm, Dust-Niagara Duster

·Way=~=-====-==-~~~

Sole DistributoH 1

Gibbs, Bright st:,a c ~ o. Z7 GRENFELL STREET

9 April 15, 1928. The Australian Dried Fruits News.

The Facts of that Raisin Conference (Reprinted foom the Pacific Rural

Press, January 14, 1928.)

That variously described confer- So much for that. eace between Ralph P. Merritt and The idea of a clearing house ~n a group of big bankers and raisin which co-operative and packer would pacl:ers proves to have been a case be brought together in :;t stabilisa-0~ calling Mr. Merritt "upon the tion p1ogramme was evidently in j;he carpet." minds of some, and it seems that the

The packers have recent.ly been ret rement of Mr. Merntt would be g~tting a dose of their own pr-ce- welcome to at least a portion of the cutting medicine, and are none too conferee£. happy over the taste. The bankers The idea of a clearing house was have· a natural three" way interest in branded as wholly impractical by raising price stablisation because JY:.r. Merritt, and ~t least some of they finance co-operative,' packers the bankers joined him in that and g1'ow,ers. Hence the meet:ng·. belief.

n~r. Merritt was told that the marJ.:et c-\1ght to be stabilis'ed; that he should· wm'k with packers to stabilise the market; and one banker exp1;essed the belief that the raisin inl1ustry needed a Judge Landis.

Mr. Merritt promptly handed the "hot potato" bac-k. He sa· d it had been impossible to co-operate with packers to stabilise the market be­cause the paclcers did not believe as the co-operative believes, that the packer policy was dominated by cer­tain pr~ce-cutting factors who were primarly interested in the grower, and who were not temperamentally or p1:actically keyed up to co-operate in stabilisation.

Ee declared that Sunland Sales, the distributing agency of Sun-Ma:d, had never cut prices until after com­peting packers had granted reduc­tions which made such action neces­sary. His hearers need not take his unsupported word. he told them, for he had the proof that Sunland c·uts had followed sales by packers at lowered prices. Sunland Sales, he told them, had quietly gone into the market and had purchased raisins from these packers as evi­dence, and had subs~quently resold portions of such raisins at a profit. He wculd be glad to show some of the very packages bearing the names of the packPI's, 'and submit docu­m<entary evidence of the purchase at the cut-price.

If the banke1 s, who have the best chance to do so, would stabilise the packers-·n other words, get them to agree to stop priee cutting-Mr. Merritt said the co-operative wou~d be glad to do its part in supporting a living price for rais·ns. Such staWisiation of the market is the main thought and purpose of the co-operative, and always has been, he claimed·, but the co-operative would not cons' der going into a clearing house.

And there the 1iwtter stands. The meeting accomplished little. The future hangs in the balance.

Meanwhile,. Harry Cree ~h, attor­ney and manager of Sunland, and a very important force il} the co­operative, has resigned in disgust, and w :n devote his energies to his law practice. He will continue as counsellor for Sun-Maid, but Mr. Merritt has taken over the active management of Sunland.

Nothing Must Happen to Sunland

The above is our effort to set forth clearly, fairly and without comment the facts of a situation of tremendous importance. ~What :s said below is our frank opinion freely given to our clients, the· growers.

. 10 The Australian Dried Fruits News. AJJri! 15, 1928 .

This paper holds no brief for .Ralph Merritt. Apparently he is able to take care of himself. Nor

·do we question the right of bankers to step in. But the underlying in­

·te.xest is bigger than any man or set of men.

As we view it, it would be a ·tragedy tQ have anything happen to Sunland Sales, or to Sun-Maid with 'ts valuable trade mark and its many patents.

Sunland Sales is the outstanding ·effort of dried fruit growers to take care of their own distribution.

Practically ever.y other large busi­ness in Amer:ca has come to the idea of doing its own distribution. No move, whether sincere or sinister. should interfere w:th that modern trend.

As we . have frequently set forth we do not believe that co-operatives and their trade competitors can safely be caged together in a clear­ing house.

We have no information or in­timation that this is part of the national plot against co-operatives,

but we are afraid of any movement which ties the lion and the lamb to.­gether.

Nor do we grant that packers have. a right to become VvToth when a co~ operative does the thing they have been doing for years. It is a great m'sfortune that we should have price-cutting, but it cannot logically be called treason when a co-opera­tive does it, and explained away as business expediency when a packer does it. , Apparently packers are being bitten by a l)l'ce-cutting viper which some of their own number have warmed in their bosoms, and to an onlooker it seems time to quit coddliqg snakes.

The bankers who finance packer op'eration may well insist on this. All of us should support them 'n such a move. Thus some degree of stabilisation might be reached. . ,

The greatest difficulty of all is that we have too many raisins. Many of our vineyards are ·"mar­ginal." Bankers, packers, growers, and many others must share blame

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s EQUIPMENT. If you don't know :

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§ ,, :

:riillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllffi

11.·

April 15, 1928. The Australian Dried Fruits News. 11

for this over-expansion :f blame ~e assessed1 and all must assume the~f :share of the respon~ibil~ty I anything really constructive IS done about it. ,

Face the facts, swing the ,ax~. 'That may sound ruthless, but It 1S certainly sound.

--------Nothing must kill t~e ide~ ~f co­

operation of co-operatives-It IS the next logical step.

Nothing must · hamst~·in&' ~he growers' assumption of distnbutwn responsibilities:_it is the great modern trend.

I•ndividuals mean little in this. A principle is at stake. Rights are at issue. For rights we fight.

Meanwhile, nothing must happen to co-operation-it is the most hope­iul movement in agriculture to-day. "( ~========

The Dried Fruit Industry of lJ.S A.

According to the· Commerce _Monthly, New York, the dried fruit indmtry in the United States h~s bePn n'aking remarkable progress m recent years. In the last cen~us year . '1925 total productiOn amo~mted to' 1054 million P'ounds compared with 569 million pounds in 1914 or a gain of 85 per cent. Raisins 'coniprise about o~e-half and prunes more than one-third of t~tal •0 utput. The remainder COI}Sists chiefly of dried peaches, apnc~ts, ·and apples. The bulk of the dned fruits of U.S.A. are .prod,uced on the Pacific coast. Cahforma alo!1e,

.0 n account of its natural drymg facilities, contributes about 90 per cent. of the total. Oregon a_nd Washington rank second and tlnrcl respectively.

of the prunes. Oregon prodt~ces most of the remainder. The Umted States is the only country in which peaches, apples and apricots. ~re dried in commercial quantit~es. While formerly most of the drymg of apples was done in the Eastern States notably New York and Michi~an, the tl•end in rec~nt ye~rs has been toward Californ_w, which :s now the leading producmg State, followed by New York and Arkansas. The production of dried peac~es a~d apricots is confined to .cahforma. The increasing demand for canned peaches has , had . an adverse effect on the dried· peach industry by r,e­ducing the quantity of fruit ava:l­able for drying. While the produc­tion of peaches and apricots is many times greater than it was twenty­five years ag·o, their growt~ has not kept pace with that of rms.ns :c:nd prunes. T'able A shows yroductwn of dried fruits in the Umted States in 1914 and in recent census years:-

The United States is the largest producer of both raisins !'ll!d prunes. Practicallv all of the rmsms, abo~t half of the world crop, are grown m •California, anq about 85 per cent.

I ' / \, u'-" ' TABLE A. ') \)I~ j 1

f\ll"' · · d t' of DI'l'ed F1·uits in the United States. \ \, ,. P.rq uc 10n I· , \I' \\\()(' ' ( 1914 1919 1921

,,·1 (1,000 lbs.) 275 282 124,442

35,407 22,975 21 812 24,98 1

[,'1

\'"''' Raisins 226,044 293,301

i'',)'' Prunes 139,092 136,377 Peaches 61,907 73,379 Apples 54',957 46,624 ,, '

Apricots 39,397 24,193 '. .All other 47,190 41,535

------- ----Total 568,587 615,409 504,9,04

1923 1925

380,068 533,722 245,786 397,583

61,617 36,857 1,9398 21,121 54,029 33,039 30,903 31,806

---- ---791,801 1,054,128

!I:

12 The Australian Dried Fruits News. Aptil15, 1928.

Inasmuch as dried fruit can be pacl".ed and stored for a long t me, without detriment to the product, it finds a ready market in those coun­tries which produce little or no dried fruits of their own, notably Great I::ritain, Scanclinav·a, .Germany, and Denmark. While the trend of dried fruit exports has been upward since before the war, shipmentl;l of n.isins have sho\vn the most consis­tent gains. The quant:ty of· dried fruit exJlortecl in 1926 was 364 million pounds compared with ·an a'.-erage of over 160 million pounds in 1910-14 period.

Northern Europe is the principal marl:et for dried frujts, and Great Lritain is the world's best customer. Prunes were the largest single item exported from the United States in 1926. Shipments anwpntecl to 168 mill'on pounds, valued at nearly $11,000,000, or a·bout c-ne-third of the total value of dried fruit e:;:­ported. The United Kinsdom took '11 million pounds, followed by Ger-

many, France and Canada with 29• mmion, 23 n11l! on and 20 million pounds respectively. An unusually large purchase of prunes by Ger­many in 1924 accounted for a great part of the heavy gain in shipments of that coJ1mwdity over the previous yea •.

Ua 'sins rank second in quantity among exports with 141 million nouncls, va ued at a little more than $11,000,000. The United Kingdom and Canada are the leading markets. Shipments to the United Kingdom in the fiscal year 1926-27 showed an increase of nearly 16 per cent. over 1925f·26. The important p.lace which they still occupy in the trade is interesting in view of the strenuous efforts, including tariff preference, which have been made by Great Br'tain during the last two years to stimulate consumption of fruits grJown within the British Co1:1monwealth. The quality of the p" ocluct, and the fact that con­sumers have become accustomed to

~~~\l!l·<$1~~\l!l<$1~~1$11$1~~\l!ll\$1~~1$11$11$11$11$1\,~1$11$11$11$11$11$11$11$11!!11$11$11$11$11$1,~1$1,~1$1~1$1,~1$11$11$11$11$11$1~~1$11$11$11$1~· ~ ~

# Renmark fruitgrowers Co~operated Ltd. i +) ~ # RENMARK ~ +) ~ : JHJIJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIII. ~-+) A Company Owned and Controlled by the Growers of Renmat·k {P

+> for the Co-operative Packing and Processing of Dried Fruit. ~. • • • • "'"""""'""""""'''"''''"''''"''"'''"''"''""'""'""'"'"'"'"'""""'"'""'"'"""'''"'''"'I· (p • • • (p # Paid-up Capital, £28,500 Reserves, £5,000 ~· . ~· J Packers of the well known ~(ARK" Brand ~ • l""""""""""'" Dl'ied and Fresh Fruit. '"""""'""'""" ~-~ ~ • • ~ Timber, Hardware, Produce and General Merchants ~. . ~

I l • GROWERS FINANCED AGAINST COMING HARVEST ~: • • ~ . <+· iiJ~~~~fi'ti'~~~~~~~~~~~~(·'\("~~~~(.,~(., .. ~ .. ,~,.,,.,,.,'9'~'9'~~~~~''9'~~~~'9'<9'1<9~<9'1~~~'9'<i'li.

April 15, 1928. The Australian Dried Fruits News. 13

the American fruit, are partly responsible for ma ntainmg th1s tr:tde at the present level. Other important markets are Germany an.d · the Netherlands. New Zealand IS

also increasing its tal:ings.

Germany and the Netherlands "fank first and seC'ond respectively as 1mpJrters <!f dried ~pples ~!lei a'",Jricots, wh;le Canad!l Is the pnn­cipal purchaser of clned peaches.

In conclusion the Cp,mmer~e Jl.~onthly states that t?e dried frUit industry in U.S.A. 1s capable of further development. Already se.ll­inrv agencies are doing much t? 1?­cr~ase the popularity of the frmt. By means of dehydration a great deal may be accomplished toward placing the industry on a stable hasis. A larger percentage of the natural flavour now lost through many hours of sun . drying co~ld ~e retained, result.ng 111 a bette! pi o­·duct at lower cost.

Dried Fruits in New Zealand

The Cha:rman of the Common­wealth Dried Fruits C?ntrol Board informs us that, followmg ~pon th.e offering, of new . seasons fnut through the authonsed representa­tives of the Board in New Zealand, satisfactory orders have been placed by New Zealand buyers.

Mr. Thomas referred to the i.n­crease in shipments of dr.ed frUitS to New Zealand dur'ing the past few years, shipments being as follows:-

Season 1925 1487 tons. 1926 1748 " 1927 2257 "

In view of the limite.d qua!ltity of high-grade fru t reqUired m New Zea1ancl, it is hoped that New: Zea­land buyers will secure their re­quirements at an early date, . an~ that shipments to the Sister Dominion may be even larger than during the past year.

London Sales The chairman of th•c Commc.n­

wealth Dried Fruits Control ~o~rd advises that the sales <!f .Au~tia~Jan dried fruits in Great Bntam I ecOI de1 with the London agency o~ the Boarc for the week ended April 12, 1928, represented-Sultanas, 315 tons, at an average

price of £56 12/ per ton. The total realisations to dat~ ?f

this season's fruit in Great Bntam are:-Sultanas, 18,525 tons, at an average

price of £58/2/2 per ton. Currants, 4809 tons, at an average

price of £42/11/ per ton. Lexias, 2006 tons, .at an average

price of £43/11/ per ton.

The Best of all Good Reasons tor using

SULPHATE of AMMONIA (the cheapest nitrogenous fertiliser)

is that IT PAYS

Order NOW from your packing shed

----------------------------------------------------·~

I I h

14 ·The Australian Dried Fruits News. Apl'il 15, 1928,

Californian Competition (Continued from March issue.)

Our association, wh:ch is a volun­tary organisation, compl'lsmg growers, packers (both co-opera­tive and proprietary), agents and merchants, all working together in the growers' interests puts £250,000 more than export parity price into the growers' pockets at an adminis­trative cost of' £5000 a year.

Reply to letter, R. B. Holling­worth, dated 31/10/27.

The will to co-operate for mutual protection comes from the growers themselves, who in 1896 formed a Raisin Trust, and this carried on unt.il 1924, by every grower volun­tarily agreeing to export whatever percentage of his crop the Associa­tion found necessary.

In 1924 State acts were passed making it obligatory for every grow­er to export, and this has undoubted­ly enabled us to maintain control.

Expansion of industry was clue to settlement of returned soldiers and the amount of money invested i~, the industry by Governn;ents was a fac­tor in obtaining State control.

The Austral'an raism industry commenced in 189() and became an export industry in 1907. The Asso­ciation began under the worst possi­ble conditions. lvh:ny growers were

forced out, those remammg in were on the verge of ruin.

The Association is an outstand-ng, feature in grower co-operation, and is the first body of primary produc­ers in the world who have obtained, for 25 years without a break the· benefit of the duty provided for theh· protection,

Paragraph 3 is most Important. Our Assoc:ation, recognising the commercial packer and agent had his capital invested in the industry, took him in and made him l.Ul Association packer, who agreed to sell through the authorised Association agents. and merchants, and thereby esbb­lished a complete packing' and selling· organisation without capital cost. As. other packers have opened they have been taken into the Association.

The reorganised plan of the prpne growers of California is similar to· the practice acloptedr by Australian dried fruit growers, and this seems to· have possibilities for the raisin grow­ers also.

The interests of g1·ower, packer· and agent should be identical, and surely some policy making for sta­b]ity can be devised.

We do not think it necessary to· return to a 40,QOO-ton pack by bank­ruptcy and devastation. By asking

.----------------------------------------------~

SI v s A RICE

s THE BEST IN THE WORLD

OBTAINABLE FROM ALL STOREKEEPERS

April 15, 1928. The Australian Dried Fruits News. 15·

higher prices you will sell just as much, and. it would be better to con­sider distillation or utilisation for by-products for any excess produc­t-on, in the same way as the Greel~s stabilise their eurrants, and this practice is also f~ollowed 'in Aus­tralia.

.. , Undoubtedly big things have been accomplished in increasing raisin

'sales, but that is no good if the price to the grower is ruinous. You have your asset of experience in market­ing, but if your tonnage of produc­tion falls to 50,000 tons, you will get no improved pric·e unless you have an organisat· on big enough to recognise the right of the established' packers to live and make them part of your organisation.

Australia is not planting further vineyards; we feel it would be unwise to do so at the present time.

This has been 'set out as a definite policy of all State Governments, and as a matter of fact areas going out of cultivation are barely balanced by ne\V areas planted. Like yourselves, we have this yeai· reached peak pro-duction. '

Reply to letter H. B. Holling-· worth, elated 7/11/27.

The writer makes the point that nothing can be done unless growers loyally stick to the As8ociation, and with that senbnent we all agree. We preach just as strongly to growers who do not back the Association in Australia, but during! the past twelve months it would appear' that the Association~ proportion of the Cali­fornian pa-ck has been reducing instead of increasing.

Evidently the Association has not made good, and it should try new methods. Why not attempt to get independent and co-operat ve paekers as part of the Association packing and selling organisation? Adopt the policy of live and let .Jive, and we feel the growers will benefit im­mensely .

Yours faithfully,

(Sgd.) THOMAS C. RAWLINGS, Chairman Mildura D strict Council

A.D.F.A.

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CARBONATE OF POTASH 96/98% PURE FRENCH OLIVE OIL

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Indent or Spot Prices -----

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581 LIT. COLLINS ST. MELBOURNE

Phone: Cent. 8638 (6 lines)

16 The Australian Dried Fruits News. April 15, 1928.

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Printed for the Publishers, The Australian Dried FruitP. Asfoci ttion, by the Spectator Publi&hing Co. Ply. Lid., l3~a Little Collins :"Jtree1, Melboutnt-

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