Minutes of Evidence p.1401-1509 - Parliament of Victoria

1479
49981. You think they should pay more ?-I think they should be made to keep to the 40 lbs. to Charles Draper,
C&ntinu#,
the bushel. 9th lll~>y 1asa •.
49982. Do you think the consumers get the benefit of that increa.se for the price ?-I think not ;
th~y sell them accordingly to retailers. '!'hey get Ss. 6d., and we get 6s. 6d.
49983. Do you think the Custom House officers do not take proper precautions ?-I think they
should not let 55 lbs. come in for 40 lbs.
49984; How do you know that-have you ever measured any parcels ?-I took one of the old boxes,
and the new one is an inch wider.
49985. But they only contain a bushel ?-But they contain 55lbs.
49986. Did you weigh it ?-Ithas been weighed.
49987. Will you confine yourself in evidence to what you know yourself ?-I know they are an inch
wider.
49988. But you have not weighed them ?-Pears go, I believe, up to 60 lbs.
49989. You say this fruit is sold here at Ss. 6d. a bushel-that is much dearer than yours-2s. more
-is that a better fruit ?-Not a bit l1etter.
49990. How is it then that people get more for an imported article than for the colonial ?-Because
they suppose the cases are so much larger.
49991. Then they are giving the community a larger quantity for the price ?-I think they get the
worth of it, ; those bushels are worth more than our bushels-they are so much larger than our bushels.
49992. You think the retail purchaser is buying a bushel and a half and only paying for a bushel?-
K ot to the extent of a bushel and a half; it is 25 per cent. I suppose them to be 55 lbs. and ours are 40 lbs.
49993. You say that is the cause of the price being Ss. 6d. instead of 6s. 6d. ?-Yes.
49994. Not because the quality of the fruit is better ?-Kot at all, they are larger cases.
49995. Do you think that your industry would be affected in the least-would you stop fruit, or recede
in anyway from the advance now going on in your place, if the duty were reduced ?-I am sure, if the duty were
reduced, I should give up and go to Tasmania to grow it, because they-have double the facilities for growing
it, I consider.
49996. If that happened, do you think the consumer here would get the advantage of the fruit
growing?-No. They would lose; they would get no competition.
49997. But you have had no competition since the duty was 9d.-can you give the Commission an
idea of the quantity ?-,-From Tasmania, in 1881, there were 26,251 bushels.
49998. What kind of fruit was that ?-It was chiefly apples, and pears, and plums.
49999. Not all apples ?-Not all apples. Very likely some small fruits were amongst them, but
that would be 2d. a pound.
50000. You can give no actual evidence as to the character of the fruit ?-No ; it was worth
£10,250.
50001. You cannot tell that they were all apples which come immediately into competition with you ?
-Just the same fruit as I grow.
50002. Then you grow more than apples ?-I grow more than apples. Just the very same fruit; I
grow them mixed.
50003. And you wish the Commission to understand that if they recommend any alteration in the
duty, your industry would suffer thereby so much that you would reduce the acreage you have got in-in
fact, you would go to Tasmania ?-Yes, it would pay me far better to go to Tasmania.
50004. You do not wish us to understand that you would go there if we recommend that?-I may
be too old to go myself, but I should recommend my sons to go ; I should stop here. It would take 1s. a
bushel off me all round.
50005. Were not you progressing very fairly under the old 5 per cent. duties ?-No.
50006. How many acres did you start with ?--Just one acre; a small garden.
50007. In ten years after that, how many acres had you ?-I suppose about eight.
50008. And the big increase began when the 9d. a bushel was put on?-Yes ; and not only that,
but it induced us to send to aU parts of the world to get varieties to compete with Tasmania. I
have between 600 and 700 varieties of apples ; we have been trying to cut them out.
50009. There is no duty upon fruit trees, is there ?-No, there is no duty upon fruit trees.
50010. Would it not be desirable for those who produce fruit trees to have a duty?-No; we only
introduce new varieties ; we soon make trees of them.
50011. Then your object in giving evidence before the Commission to-day is to insist upon the duty
being continued as it is?-Yes ; and the bushel being more uniform.
50012. And that it be seen to, in order that the imported article be allowed to pass at only 40 lbs. to
the bushel?-Y cs.
50013. Have you any other suggestion to make t.o the Commission ?-No.
50014. You have, in addition to the orchard, a large amount of country-what do you use it for?­
I am going on planting.
50015. You do not graze at all ?-Yes, I do upon the other part, but all that is fit I am going on
planting with.
50016. Are there uny other fruit growers in that neighbourhood beside yourself?-Yes, these last
two or three years they are planting every bit of land that is fit; it is just beginning to come into bearing.
They are planting in all directions. ·
50017. Do not you think that, by continuing this, you will be able sufficiently to supply the local
market,. even if there is no duty on ?-I consider it cost me 9d. a bushel to bring them to market.
50018. If you were in Tasmania, would it not cost you 9d. a bushel to bring them to market ?-,-I .
think they could bring it nearly as cheap as we can.
50019. That depends npon what part of Tasmania they are in?-Yes.
50020. How do you bring yours down ?-By carts. ,
50021. Not by the Lillydaie line ?-No, we are not near enough.
50022. And you say they can bring it from orchards in Tasmania, and ship it and bring 'it hundreds
of miles, and land it here ao~3 cheap as you can ?-I do not say quite that. -