AGY-5101 | Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Fruit Industry of New South Wales

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Letters Patent for the conduct of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Fruit Industry of New South Wales were issued to Sole Commissioner Mr. John Edward McCulloch, Esquire, a Stipendiary Magistrate for the Metropolitan District of New South Wales, on 24 August, 1937. The Royal Commission asked that Mr McCulloch should:

1.Inquire into and report upon the Fruit-growing Industry in New South Wales, and to inquire into and make recommendations with respect to:
a. the costs and method of production, and of marketing, and of sale and other disposal of fruit grown in New South Wales,
b. improvement in the financial position of the Fruit-growers in New South Wales, and
c. manufacture and sale or other disposal of by-products of fruit grown in New South Wales.
2. To inquire into and report upon the fee charged under the Plant Diseases Act, 1924, in connection with the registration of orchards and nurseries, and whether such fee should be continued and if so, at what rate or amount, and how the moneys received by the Crown as such fees should be disposed of by it. (1)

Further Letters Patent were issued on 24 August, 1938 which extended the terms and scope of the Inquiry to include matters regarding:

3. the profits made on re-sale of fruit (whether grown in New South Wales or elsewhere) purchased since 1 June, 1936 from Licensed Farm Produce Agents then or later carrying on business in the City Fruit Markets, Sydney and/or in the City of Newcastle by:
. Austral Fruit Distributors Proprietary Limited
. Gem Fruit Company Proprietary Limited
. Apex Fruit Distributors Proprietary Limited
. The Federal Fruit Company Proprietary Limited
. any other company or firm carrying on business in the City of Sydney and/or the City of Newcastle;
4. the persons to whom such profits have been, or were to be, distributed and the persons who would be entitled to such profits if the same were distributed and also in respect of each and every of such persons the amount or proportion of such profits. (2)

The Inquiry was formally opened on 30 August, 1937 (3) and extended over a period of fifteen months, with evidence and submissions being concluded on 28 November, 1938. (4)

The Commissioner presented his final report, covering 595 pages, to Governor de Vere on 23 February, 1939. (5)

Endnotes
(1) Report of Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Fruit Industry of New South Wales. Parliamentary Papers 1938-39-40. Vol. I. p.161.
(2) Ibid., p.165.
(3) Ibid., p.179.
(4) Ibid., p.181.
(5) Ibid., p.177.