OVER-SUPPLIED!

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 845, 13 December 1929, Page 18

OVER-SUPPLIED!

CHEAP POTATOES IN CITY MARTS GREEN PEAS SCARCE New potatoes and green peas. Seldom have the former been so cheap; seldom the latter so dear so near to Christmas on the Auckland market, as at the moment. % TN the city marts potatoes are piled in every corner, with fresh supplies arriving all through the day. Despite the fact that prices have fallen to 2s 6d to 4s a bag, difficulty is experienced in affecting clearances. The season has reached its peak with a rush, and growers at Patumahoe, Pukekohe, Panmure, Mangere, and Avondale, in addition to those in districts of lesser importance in respect to potato-growing, are busy digging. Although there has been little sign of the blight as yet, few growers are prepared to take the risk of holding. During the last week or so the Wellington and South Island crop has become available, depriving Auckland growers of an outlet down there. In addition, the seasonal "backyard” crop is being dug by many Auckland suburbanites, all helping to bring down the demand. Produce merchants and auctioneers do not remember such a heavy supply of potatoes at this time of the year for many seasons. Other vegetables for the Christmas dinner table are reported to be more or less in short supply, and meeting with a firm demand. The rains of the last two months have cut down the crop of green p'eas, playing havoc with the vines, and whereas two years ago the marts had difficulty in quitting supplies at sixpence a bag just prior to Christmas, indications are that best grades this year will be selling in the vicinity of 4d a lb. Cabbages, lettuces, carrots, parsnips. etc., are coming forward in steady supplies, but not sufficiently to cause an easing in the market.