H—3oa

included members of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation, New Zealand Fruit Export Control Board, Fruit Marketing Council, Price Tribunal, Internal Affairs Department, and the Internal Marketing Division. Dehydration The apple-dehydration factory at Motueka continued to operate during the period under review. During this time, 3,585,038 lb. of raw fruit were received, producing 385,194 lb. weight of dried apples. The whole of this output was packaged and marketed within New Zealand. The demand for this product, which is intended for marketing when the Division is unable to supply fresh apples, greatly exceeds the supply, and it will be necessary to allocate the product to wholesalers. Attached to the factory is a girls' hostel, and with the difficulties experienced in obtaining female labour the hostel has undoubtedly rendered excellent service to the factory. The problem of utilizing the peels and cores of the apples is being tackled, and when the required machinery comes to hand it is intended to extract apple-juice from the peels, cores, and outsize apples. HONEY SECTION There has been little activity as far as the Honey Section is concerned for the period Ist April, 1946, to 30th September, 1946. Up to the 30th September the Division received 1,648 cases of honey, amounting to approximately 87 tons. This is the smallest amount that the Honey Section has ever received, and has made distribution for the civilian market extremely difficult. Unfortunately, there was only a small carry-over from last year, and, even with this, it was only possible to make one distribution for the retail trade. Sales of this season's honey have been confined to — Tons. Hospitals .. .. .. .. .. .. 25 Essential services and manufacturing, &c. .. .. .. 20 Navy .. .. .. .. .. .. 5 England .. .. .. .. .. .. -.. 30 The balance is being carried forward to next season, as the bulk of it is in the white class and there is no darker honey to blend with it. With the small amount of stock on hand, it has been necessary to refuse many requests for honey, as it would have been impossible to meet all demands. The grading of the honey received by the Division was 92-48 for the North Island and 96-44 for the South Island, giving an average grade overall of 93-245, and making the average payment per pound 7-27 d. Seals revenue collected between Ist April, 1946, and 30th September, 1946, amounts to £B4B 12s. 3d., and it would appear that during the latter part of this period sales were the heaviest. This tends to point out that beekeepers are preparing for the coming season by collecting stocks of seals now. During the year a meeting was held in Auckland by suppliers of honey to the Division, and as a result a Honey Suppliers Association was formed. A postal ballot to elect a General Executive was held, and the following members were elected : Mr. F. D. Holt (Chairman), Mr. J. R. Barber (Secretary), Mr. W. Herron, Mr. T. E. Pearson, and Mr. A. K. Clark. VEGETABLES The last annual report on vegetable activity concluded with this statement: "As the war was responsible for the Division becoming associated with vegetables in a practical manner, its vegetable operations have virtually ceased with hostilities."

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