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

Charles Dmper,
cantinued,.
9th May. 1883,
1480
50023. Do you employ your own horses and carts to come to market ?-Yes.
50024. And you have ampledemand for all you IJroduce ?-Yes, for all we can sell.
50025. Is Gs. Gel. the average price of apples in the market ?-No, it has only lately got up to that.
But I believe some growers near Melbourne were as low as ls. a bushel.
50026. This season ?-This season.
50027. What was the duty upon that article-was 9d. the duty upon an article worth ls.?-You see
they did not come in then, but now they are jnst beginning to ship from Tasmania, and we have been
introducing new late varieties to compete with them, and we have hardly got them into full swing.
50028. Has not this season been tmusually prolific in apples?-Yes, aJl over the country.
50029. And I suppose apples have been cheaper than ever they were before ?-It was about this
time in former years that we looked for them to get up to 10s.
50030. Then this is always a dear s.eason ?-It is always denr when the early fruits areo:ff and the.
Tasmanians do not get a chanee.
50031. Do you think, as a 'fruit grower, that you will ever be in a position to compete with Tasmania
or the adjoining colonies without this duty ?-I cannot ~ay we sh,'tlf be in that position, we are trying our
utmost to get in varieties to compete with them-more prolific varieties ~u1d better keepers. Tasmania is
later than this country, their ribston pippins are coming in now, and ours are all over these three weeks or
a month.
50032. Seeing that that particular fruit does not come into competition with you, do not you
think vou could let them in ?-I do not think so, for theirs comes in as our other fruit comes on.
• 50033. You would get the benefit of the longer season if you get in better varieties-if you had not
the duty on ?-We want a little more protection and you will see then. I do not think we could compete
without a duty.
50034. Have you anything else to sn,Y:?-There are other fruit-growers from Tyabb, and there they
. are planting a grent many. I am sorry Mr. Sheppard cli.cl not get' his notice soon enough to come in. I saw
his son this morning; he said that it costs him 1s. a bushel to bring it from Tyabb here.
50035. How much does it cost you ?_;_9cl. ; I could not possibly do it for less.
50036. You have 1,000 acres of land altogether:'-Yes.
50037. May I ask you what this 1,000 acres cost you-what is its value ?-I could not tell you that.
I have clone a deal of improvements on it.
50038. You have prospered pretty well on fruit growing, have not you ?-I have had to labour for
it anyhow.
50039. Of course, there is nothing to be had without labour, and the more credit to you if you laboured
successfully ; but 1,000 acres of land is worth some money, is it not ?-Yes ; but some of it is rangy-,.-it
is not fit for cultivation. Most of what we cultivate is in the :fiats.
50040. Is it fairto ask you what you value your farm at ?-[-'-:Vo answer.]
50041. Which is the best paying division of your industry, the fruit or the cabbage growing or the
grazing ?-I do not go into cabbage growing, except for cattle ; but fruit growing is what we get most
money for, and it is the most expense.
50042. One of the Commissioners, Mr. Bosisto, says you grow cabbages. I ask, which is the most
beneficial to you, the fruit or the crops or the grazing ?-The fruit is the most money ; but it is the most
outlay. There is a great outlay in getting an orchard up.
50043. We have this fact staring us in the face, that your industry has been a success, take it all
round ?-Yes.
50044. You have a 1,000 acres of land, and, notwithstanding you have laboured for it, it is yours, is
it not so ?-Yes. I suppose there are a few acres less than a thousand.
50045. Ry Mr. Lobb.-How do you utilize the whole of this land ?-It is all grazing, except tho
little field we grow for our own uses, and the rest is dairying ; we dairy upon the other part.
50046. How many cattle do you keep ?-We milk twenty cows beside the young ones.
50047. Are you in favour of the present dnty upon butter and produce ?-Yes, certainly.
50048. You consmne all the cereals you grow, that is oats and hay ?-Yes, we consume that.
50049. Do you grow wheat ?-No, nothing but hay and the feed oats ; we have to buy a great deal
of corn.
50050. How do oats grow in your neighbourhood ?-Well, bL1t we use them all, most of the ground
that now grows feed we intend to plant. Of eourse we grow crops between the trees while they are
young.
50051. If you heard a witness, on oath, make a statement that we cannot produce oats here for the
purpose of making oatmeal, do you believe it, as a practical farmer ?-I believe we can grow oats here as
well as in any country.
. 50052. By Jtfr . .&funro,-How many bushels of apples do you produce in a year ?-I never kept any
account of it. .
50053. Can you give us an approximate idea ?-I could not.
50054. Do you sell them in the Victoria market or the Western market ?-In the Victoria market.
50055. You do not sell to the middlemen ?-Some of them buv of us. Of course we have to sell
upon t~e wholesale system, having so many coming in. We sell tO' the importers who buy our fruit to
export 1t.
50056. You do not know the quantity of apples you sell every year ?-No, I do not know. I know
last year was very few indeed.
. 50057. By Mr. Lobb.-You could tell within 100 tons ?-I would not say at all the quantity, but
1t was very few last year.
50058. By the Chairman.-The principal evidence you wish to impress upon the Commission is the
continuance of the duty and the necessity that the imported article shall not measure more than 40lbs. to
the bushel ?-Yes, that is it.
The witness withdrew.