FARM AND STATION. THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 6

FARM AND STATION.

THE FRUIT INDUSTRY .

The Minister of Agriculture somewhat overstates his case when, emphasising the importance of the future that lies before the fruit industry in New Zealand, he asserts that Great Britain

annually imports fruit to the value of ten millions sterling. In 1907, certainly, the fruits that were imported by Great Britain reached a value of £9,397,500, but last year, as a result, ' doubtless, of the depressed industrial conditions, the figure dropped to £8,938,528, of which considerably more than three-fourths was represented by fruits that are grown in very small quantities, if at all, in New Zealand or else that could not be conveyed/ from the Dominion to England and landed in a saleable condition. Un- \ questionably there exists a market at j Home for certain fruits which New Zealand can produce and which can be ', shipped for long distances without any j risk of the deterioration of their quality. Of apples, for instance, thej Mother Country last year imported : nearly three and a-half million hundred•weights, of a value slightly in excess of £2,000,000. .And it has already been . proved — though i^t has only been on a ; very small scale that exportation, has ! taken place — that apples can be sent J from New Zealand to London and I profitably disposed of there. Doubtless the enterprise, in which a modest commencement has .been made, of shipping j fruit to the United Kingdom will admit ! of extensive development. Even the ] local -market, however, is capable of absorbing a great deal more fruit than is supplied by colonial growers. The actual value of our imports of fresh ' fruit last year was £181,861. Even , when this total is discounted, as it must . be, by the necessary allowance in respect of fruits that are not grown in this country, it must be apparent that there is a large market in New Zealand itself for fruit that is offered for retail sale at prices which place the : purchase of supplies within the means of the bulk of the population. It is in the price that the crux of the question lies. Fruit is, as a rule, 'not a suffi- j ciently cheap commodity. Its proper- ] ties as an article of diet are such that the consumption of it should be encouraged as widely as possible. It is a i matter of common knowledge, however, that it is regarded by the majority of , residents in the towns as a luxury. It I is unfortunate, but it is undeniable, I that this is so. And the explanation ' is largely to be found in the fact that it is difficult, if not impossible, for the growers in different parts of the Dominion to have the produce of their orchards, conveyed to the towns and sold at prices 'which, while not prohibitive to the consumers, shall be remunerative to them. Of this there ' i=? ample proof in Otago. In the Cromwell district stone fruits were allowed to rot in large quantities last year because the facilities for sending them to Dunedin were inadequate. And it would, of course, be perfectly idle, ; under existing conditions, to think of sending to town the magnificent fruit that is grown in the vicinity of Wanaka. But the Government refuses to consider any proposal for the extension of the Central railway that would bring these districts into closer touch with their natural market. A like cause operates to prevent the most profitable use being made of the orchards in the productive Teviot Valley. Theresuperb fruit are grown. The Government, however, is so little impressed with the potentialities of the district that it actually stops the construction of a railway whicn it itself undertook in the well-grounded belief that the would pay handsomely, and it lightly violates a pledge on the faith cf which the settlers have j

extensively planted their land. Our own country is capable of producing in their season all the fruits of certain kinds which the people of New Zealand can consume, and of developing, as well, a considerable export trade in fruit that can be carried for long distance without injury. But it is imperative, in the first place, that the Government shall provide the growers with reasonable facilities in the form of railway communication if they are to be encouraged to" build up their industry to anything approaching its full extent.