Cases.

It is very desirable that one uniform size of case be adopted. As yet there is but little uniformity. By the s.s. "Tainui" some five or six shapes were sent. The largest number, and undoubtedly the best cases, forwarded were the American-shaped cases: measurements—ends, 11in. by 12in., inch stuff; tops and bottoms, one piece, 12in. by 20in., 3/8in. stuff; sides in two pieces, 6in. by 20in., 3/8in. stuff; clean-sawn kahikatea tops, bottoms, and sides; the end pieces planed. This case is easier to handle than the flat case; it is also economical in price, in freight, and easier to pack than the flat case, and holds the same quantity of fruit. The saving in cost on a hundred cases, American shape, is 9s. 5d., and the saving in freight at present rate on a hundred of the same is 40s. I would advise every shipper of apples in the colony to adopt this as the standard export case for New Zealand; it would then soon become known on the London market as the New Zealand case, in contradistinction to the flat Tasmanian case.

Generally the cases are supplied by the timber mills to the growers in the flat, ready to nail together, but sometimes growers or packers in the vicinity of the mills prefer to get the cases ready made up. Such cases I found were very slightly nailed—indeed, they were so badly put together that quite a number of the lids fell off on the cases being lifted from the wagons in which they were brought to the ship's side. This brings me to another point—the