those grown with the aid of fertilisers ?—I prefer potatoes grown with fertilisers, provided you do not use too much of it. Reverting to the market question I may say there are little rings in auction markets, but none in the open market. If a shopkeeper buys in the open market and says "Send it along," the grower delivers it himself, and so saves the cartage charges, representing about 3d. a case. It is the grower and not the consumer who has to bear these charges when they are imposed. The auction rooms do nothing but sell the fruit. The auction system has been a good thing in the past, but it has had its day. If the trade is to be extended the market must be centralised, after which the auction will soon go out. (The witness retired.)

BENJAMIN MERCER, Fruit and Vegetable Packer and Dealer, Stirling Street, sworn and examined: 9963. To Mr. CLARKSON : I sell practically any wholesale lines to anybody. I do not work on commission, but give a straight-out quote. I think the time has come for the establishment of central markets in Perth. I am acquainted with the system of private treaty practised in South Australia, and from a grower's point of view I should prefer the open market system for vegetables. I think the auction should be eliminated altogether. For fruit I should adopt the American system, eliminating the auction and getting the growers to pool their fruit. Under the present system apples are packed, graded, some sent to Perth to auction, some sold privately, and some exported. Under my system I would pool all the apples in, say, the Bridgetown district, amounting to, say, 10,000 cases. A committee would then decide that out of the total parcel 5,000 should go to England, 3,000 to the East, and 2,000 to the local markets, an upset price being put on the latter. It is practically the same system as is used by the dried fruit people. In my experience I have seen stuff honestly worth 5s. 6d. sold at 3s. 6d. The pool would eventually get a fair price for the grower, because, at all events in normal years, apples are always worth their price. I do not know that I am competent to say where the central markets should be located. There is nothing wrong with West Perth. My experience of the Railway Department is that they have always been fair and reasonable. I have never had any particular delay in getting delivery from the railways. I have had no experience with evaporated fruit.

9964. To Mr. PAYNTER : I do not think the use of second-hand fruit cases would be a success. The jarrah case will not stand the re-nailing, and in consequence the waste in transit would be too great. However, I would allow second-hand cases for tomatoes or local grapes.

9965. To Mr. VENN : About 70 tons of potatoes are being imported from the other States. If we could maintain one grade of local potatoes there would be no occasion to import potatoes.

9966. To Mr. PAYNTER: I remember the glut in fruit last season. It might have been obviated by good management in two directions: (1) the grower should avoid sending in small grade stuff in overripe condition; (2) It is of no use taking stuff out of a hot railway truck and sending it direct into cool storage. The grower should be taught to pack his stuff properly for cool storage, and the stuff should be carried in louvred vans. Certainly the glut was not caused by any mismanagement on the part of the Railway Department. Nobody wanted delivery of the fruit. Every auction mart in Perth was chock-a-block. They had stuff two days old and could not sell it. The Railway Department had nothing to do with the glut. The fruit was landed here in such condition that it could not be held over in cool storage. Fruit for cool storage requires special packing. The glut was attributable partly to incorrect packing for cool storage and partly to the fact that it was carried in unsuitable railway trucks. Again, there was the fact that too much rubbish was put on the market; nothing will bring about a glut so quickly. It is the same in the potato trade; much of the stuff should never have left the farm. Second-grade fruit is useless for jam-making and drying alike. Unless bye-products can discovered by manufacturing firms such as Plaistowe, small-grade fruit should be fed to stock. Much of the second-grade stuff, I am told, is produced by allowing one tree to bear 500 fruit where it should be carrying only 50. In certain lines there is sufficient fruit grown in the State to warrant the establishment of jam factories. In this connection the difficulty is that we have no berry fruits. I do not think the establishment of an evaporator in conjunction with central markets would be advisable. Evaporators should be on rather a small scale; there should be one in each district, or a still smaller plant on each farm. Certainly it will not pay to case the stuff, send it by railway, pay the handling charges in the city, and then evaporate it. Possibly a very small evaporator on a farm might prove too costly in working, but at least a larger one in a given district should be profitable. I am convinced that the system can never be profitably carried out in connection with the central markets.

9967. Is there any matter we have not touched upon that you desire to bring under our notice or any suggestion that you would like to make which would tend to the betterment of the industry ?—There are the regulations now in force by the Government in regard to fruit fly and various other pests.

9968. What do you wish to say in regard to that matter ?—I am doubtful whether the regulations prove of any great assistance to the grower or the public. At the present Perth merchants and packers are not allowed to send oranges to the South-West just past Yarloop or Chittering. Say there is a glut in the orange market, which brings the price down to 3s. a case, and troopship comes into Albany and requires 200 cases of oranges, I cannot supply them if I am willing to do so at a profit of 3d. a case, and I am willing. The Harvey district, according to the Fruit Commissioner, is the only clean spot in the State, and they do not grow the best oranges there. That gives Harvey an absolutely monopoly. The Fruit Commissioner says the fruit fly does not exist at Harvey, but it does.

9969. Does it give the Harvey grower a higher price ?—It does. We have practically lost all the trade at Albany because the Harvey people have been given unfair advantage over us. A number of times last year when boats were calling at Albany we could have sold hundreds of cases of oranges there. Harvey can send them there, but we cannot.

9970. By Mr. VENN : Can you send Toodyay oranges to Harvey ?—No, there is a fine of £100. Chittering oranges are bringing 15s. a case in Mel-