we instance Victoria and Tasmania, where 60 per cent. of the total soft fruit produced is turned into jam. If growers are to be encouraged to go on producing soft fruits here, we must provide manufacturing facilities. It is useless for growers to go on planting expecting the local market to absorb it, because time and again it has been proved that it cannot be done. Every year, both in good and bad seasons, we have the spectacle of soft fruit being sold down to 1s. a case, which really does not cover the cost of the case and the railage on it. Realising that, and anticipating a heavy fruit season this year, in October last we decided that we would make a serious effort to establish a jam factory in Western Australia, with the object of relieving the market. We, therefore, formed a subsidiary company to our company, the shareholders in which are all fruit growers, and we commenced on the manufacture of jam in February last. From February until the end of April we put through three-quarters of a million pounds of fresh fruits in our factory, chiefly peaches, apricots, plum, and pears. While touching on the question of the low price, we are firmly of opinion that one of the chief causes of the gluts of fruit is due to the fact that a large percentage of the fruit that comes in is inferior, which the buyers in Perth do not like, and it only can be used for jam manufacture. With the glut at Christmas time, when peaches sold at 1s. a case, we were able to get up to 8s. a case on the same day, showing that the peaches wanted were not there at the time. That is one of the chief reasons of the glut occurring at Christmas time. The statement has been made that Western Australia does not produce fruit suitable for jam-making. We can prove that is incorrect. Take apricots, for instance; this season we were able to get more apricots than were required, and further, if we had a failure of apricots next year, we have sufficient apricot-pulp down to last another 18 months. Eighty per cent. of the apricots we used this year consisted of the Morepark variety, which is the chief variety used in Eastern States. We refrained from using the earlier varieties, which are not suitable for manufacturing purposes. Every State grows varieties which are not suitable for jam-making, therefore this State is not peculiar in this respect. We consider the apricots used here are quite equal to those grown in the Eastern States, and the jam compares favourably with that introduced from the Eastern States. Touching on pears, no pears are used in the States for manufacturing jam. It is not a commercial proposition. The only pear we use is the Bartlett, which is most prolific. It is over-produced here to such an extended that it is unprofitable unless cool storage can be resorted to market the fruit. The Bartlett is such a delicate pear that it is risky to attempt to keep it. The Bartlett is the chief canning variety produced in the world to-day, because of its appearance and flavour. We have used something like 8,000 cases of Bartlett pears this season in our factory, and no other pear. It is ridiculous to state that the Bartlett is not a good manufacturing pear; it is the best produced everywhere. Touching on peaches, there are a number of varieties produced here in large quantities which we would not touch. There is Brigg's Red May. It comes into the market at Christmas and January, and is generally of such an inferior quality we would not use it. On the other hand, there are the Crawford, the Lady Palmerston, the Alberta, which are among the best varieties for jam-making. We have had no difficulty in getting all the peaches we required this season, and the size of our factory prevented us from getting all we should have used. It is said the Alberta and the Crawford will not stand up in the tin, but we have proved that by proper handling it will can well, and compare more than favourably with those we get from the Eastern States to-day. Then in regard to plums: The plum is the chief jam fruit grown in any state in the Commonwealth. and to say that Japanese plums, which are chiefly grown in Western Australia, are not suitable, is incorrect. I consider that statement is purely fallacious and based on inexperience. I do not think anyone in Western Australia is competent to express an opinion regarding Japanese plums unless he has had manufacturing experience. In Victoria a few years back there was an impression that we could not use Japanese plums for jam manufacture, but samples were sent from Western Australia to the big manufacturing firms in Victoria, and they expressed astonishment at the quality of the pulp, and as a consequence 100 tons of Japanese pulp was sent to Victoria for jam-making in 1915. From our manufacturing experience here we find that, from the manufacturing standpoint, the Japanese plum is a better plum than the Victorian English plum. It gives a better production; it contains greater gelatinous properties. You could boil down 160lbs. of Japanese plums, which would give you 101lbs. to 121lbs. more jam than the same quantity of Victorian English plums. That is the experience of our manufacturer, who is quite competent to judge of the two classes of plums from his long experience. Another point that refutes the statement made regarding Japanese plums is that, notwithstanding plum jam predominates in every assortment of jams that is produced locally and imported, the sale of straight lines of plum jam is bigger than any other variety produced here. After all, the public are the only people who are the real judges. If they have jam made from Japanese plums and come back for it, we have reason to believe that they like it, and that it compares favourably with that produced in the Eastern States. We have no doubt that we can manufacture jam in Western Australia from Japanese plums that will compete with the best imported lines. Touching on other varieties, to give the Commission some idea of the varieties produced in Western Australia, we also have figs, which we export to the Eastern States in large quantities as pulp; and oranges, grapes, Cape gooseberries, and strawberries.

10225. By Mr. VENN : Where do you get your supplies of strawberries from ?—Bullsbrook and round about the hills. With the assistance of the berry pulp from the Eastern States, we can produce all varieties. We are short of berry fruits, but the proportion of berry fruits in assorted jams is so small that it is not difficult to overcome. We can get berry pulp, that is raspberry, blackberry, and currants, from the Eastern States in exchange for fig pulp. Some of the other objections made to the establishment of a jam factory were the initial cost, the difficulty of securing the tins, and the liability to completion. At the commencement of any manufacturing business there is a big initial cost, and to say that is an objection is childish. Every factory