Statement: Half the fruit loaded at a hill collection point reaches the town bruised. A trial by the transport office, in which crates were opened at both ends of the run, shows that the bruising occurs over the eight kilometres of unmetalled track between the collection point and the highway, and not on the highway run itself. Which of the following courses of action follows?

The trial has fixed the damage to one stretch, so the action must meet that stretch — by mending it, or by protecting the fruit while it is crossed. Slowing lorries on the highway attends to the stretch the trial cleared. Closing the point does not help, because the fruit must still travel the same eight kilometres, merely on the growers' own vehicles. Picking earlier is a change nothing in the statement supports.