The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1917-09-27
BRITISH OPPOSED
TO BAN ON APPLES

suming British public are quite as
anxious to get Oregon apples as are
the Oregon growers to get into the
| English markets.
Furthermore, the English apple deal
ers, wholesale as we'll as retail houses,
have petitioned the British govern
ment to let down the bars in order
that American apples may be shipped
to England from America.
In their petition to Sir Joseph Mac
Lay, of the Ministry of Shipping, the
British petitioners set forth not only
the demand for American apples and
the necessity for their admission, ibut
point out, with the backing of trans
atlantic steamship lines, that there is
ample space available for carrying
these apples to England.
This petition, filed with the British
Ministry OF Shipping on July II, recites
that the petitioners, some 10 large
fruit and food associations of London
land similar associations of Hull,
Bristol, Cardiff, etc., and all the prin-
cipal apple importers of the United
Kingdomfwish humbly to.appeal to His
Majesty's government to reconsider
the prohibition placed at the present
upon the importation of apples. The
petition continues:
"Our aim is not to obtain shipments
of apples to the detriment of other es-
sentials. They have been and can con.
tinue to be carried when cargo booked
for certain steamers fails to connect,
owing to delay in transit or when, af-
ter other cargo is loaded. the ship can
best be finished off by completing with
apples. In view of the weight of grain
and munitions, certain quantity of
light freight is required for filling up
and from October to January, when
cotton is all shipped from southern
ports, apples re.almost the only light
freight available at north Atlantic
ports. They are promptly available at
loading ports, stow well, are easily
handled and quickly removed from
wharves after discharged. The de.
mand on our transportation facilities
is, therefore, negligible, as compared
with the great benefit they bring tC
the community.
1.-THE following steamship companies
(who have regularly carried apples)
viz, the Leyland line, the Wilson Fur.
ness Leyland line, Cunard line, White
Star line, Anchor line. the Manchester
Liners Ltd, Furness Witty lines, con.
firm the statements made in the pre-.
ceding paragraph and, for the reasons
therein given, are desirous of having
permission to carry apples.
"The apple is. beyond all others, our
staple fruit. 1t enters so largely into
the daily dietary of our middle and
working classes as to constitute for
them an important article of food. In
the three pre-war seasons imports
from Canada and the United States
averaged over 5000, 600 bushels per
annum, most of which were consumed
in the great industrial centers of the
United Kingdom. Under the most fa-
vorable conditions the supply of home
grown apples is totally inadequate and
is practically exhausted by the end of
| October. This year British crops
promise to be very disappointing, if
not failure. In the north of England
and in Scotland the quantity of apples
grown is negligible.
Fruit and vegetable dealers, both
wholesale and retail, rely chiefly upon
imported apples to carry them through
the winter, even when there are full
supplies of lemons, oranges and grapes.
With these fruits greatly curtailed and
apples totally prohibited, the end of
September will find the fruit trade,
more especially retailers, face to face
with ruin. We desire to draw the at
tention of His Majesty's government
to the fact that the trades principally
affected will be the hundreds of thou
sands of small shopkeepers, many of
them women, who supply the working
classes and that, in addition to the in
dividual hardship inflicted in them, the
trade which constitutes the machinery
for distributing our home grown fruits
and vegetables will. be crippled, if not
destroyed.
'We humbly submit to the consider
alton of His Maiesy's government
these facts:
"O That apples can be shipped in
space which is not required for other
essentials.
"(2) That they have undoubtedly
great food value.
"(3) That prohibition of apple i'm.
ports will be disastrous to an industry
of national Importance
in the hope that they will be found ad-
equate to justify the removal of apples
from the prohibited list; and we shall
be glad to cooperate in any scheme
which may be formulated.
Accompanying the foregoing petition
is letter from the British apple i'm.
porters and dealers going further into
the reasons why American apples are
desired in the English markets during
the coming season. This letter in part
says
Upon the subject of possible con-
gestion of the quays in Canada and the
United States, which, it was men,
toned, might result from bringing ap.
Piles to seaboard in order to have then
available when space offered, we have
respectfully to submit that apples can.
not be moved from the interior to the
seaboard for export unless the railroad
carriers have been satisfied that the
traffic will be taken care of promptly
after arrival either by being loaded
on steamers in space previously and
specifically booked or by being placed
into warehouses. In the case of ap.
Piles they are stored in refrigerator
warehouses, all along the Atlantic sea.
board, where they are Immediately
available for prompt loading. Thus il
should be clear that'apples cannot ir
any way bring about the slightest con.
gestiOn.
The fact discussed and noted that
apples exported from Canada and the
United States move in ordinary stow.
age on regular liners, as space per.
mits; whereas shipments from Aus
tralia and Tasmania must and do move
in refrigerator space on board the
steamers. Furthermore, in regard tc
Australian and Tasmanians apples, the
extension of some modification.of the
prohibition to admit them next season
need not necessarily be discussed for
many months to come.
THE removal of the embargo on ap
ples would not interfere with the