26 JUNE 1926, Page 13

THE FRUITS OF EMPIRE

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Does not your leader writer understate the case when he states that " the grower only receives half of the money which the consumer pays ? Last year I bought a box of a dozen figs—not Empire, but Continental—for one shilling in Waterloo Station. On arrival at Guildford I saw identical boxes in a shop window at half a crown. And from personal knowledge also Shropshire plums in a glut year have realized a halfpenny a pound to the grower, after paying freight to Liverpool, and have been sold at fourpence the next day. With such things as blackberries and mushrooms the difference between the buying and selling price is far greater still.