The Daily News. MONDAY, MARCH 20, 1905. FRUIT GROWING IN NEW ZEALAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 776, 20 March 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, MARCH 20, 1905. FRUIT GROWING IN NEW ZEALAND.

T»he Premier's remarks in the North ' tHe other day in reference to New | Zealand's deficiency in fruit prorluction seem to indicate a tendency to do more than has hitherto been don* to encourage that industry. That with a bonus of a penny per fb as incitement to shippers it has yet been found impossible to secure one small shipment of apples to England shows the moribund condition of orcharding in New Zealand. It is strange that in a country where, thirty or forty years ago, the finest fruit could be grown with a minimum of attention, and even with no attention at all, there should now be the need of import--1 ing yearly from the Commonwealth hundreds of tons of orchard products in order to meet our own local demand. The Agricultural Department has in its employment a large staff of fruit experts and inspectors', and issues yearly most in-| tftrafftinjr ami instructive reports on orchard pests and methods of prevention. The cost of all this must run into thousands of pounds a year. The maintenance of experimental orchard areas and the more recent appointment of a fruit-canning expert must add considerably to this outlay, and our reward of it all is that fruit is scarce and dear, and largely i imported from Australia, and TasI mania. There must be some reason I or reasons for our failure to become I a reasonably successful fruit-grow-j ing country; and these lAiz'jnx lire j worth seeking out, and, if possible, r removing. Of course, in the establishment of any industry success cancome all at once, but considering the number of years which have ■ elapsed since the Government took j up the question of encouraging orj chnrding, it is high time that there were some evidence of a return for the outlay which has been and continues to be made. There is such a wide range of climate in these islands that we can grow all kinds of fruit proper to a temperate climate, from "the hardy berries to the subtropical orange and lemon. Every old resident of Now Zealand can teh of a time when peaches, for example, grew with no more care than the planting of a.tree, or even from the accidental dropping of a peachstone. In recent years this fruit is mostly a failure, and is never pro- ■ curable in the shops except at prices which put it outside the means of any but persons who can afford luxuries. The explanation of this fact is that two or three forms of fun- , gold and insect pests have 6een allowed to get such possession of the whole colony that nobody can alford to embark on peach-growing as a profitable, industry. The apple, which even in winter-smitten Russia is a standard product, becomes harder and harder to grow in New Zealand. The reason lies again in disease. Apple scab, black spot, scale, woolly aphig, and, worse than all, i codlin moth, prevail everywhere. .* There arc orchards conducted as a means of making a living, where all these pests and others' may be found, and in the half or wholly neglected fruit gardens which are common as adjuncts to .suburban and country « residences the condition of most of the trees is one of Janguishment and semi-death. I;t would naturally be supposed that with an effieient s|aff' of orchard inspectors these evils would in course of years have been steadily minimised, but such does not seem to bo the case. Of course, it i« not possible for much to be done by any Government without willing private collabpration. This is probably what has failed in this colony. There is always l a tendency to resent what is called grandmotherly government, and fruit-growers ' in many cases have not felt too well disposed to take the curative and preventive measures recommended by the Department of Agriculture. The spread of codlin moth in this colony has gone far to render the growing' of apple* utterly unprofitable. Yet I there is no doubt that, taken in I hand properly and systematically, on ' the lines recommended by the Gov- ' eminent, it might have been fairly I minimised. Tasmania, which ex-' ports large shipments of apples to ' Australia und Great Britain, was a ; few years ugo in near view of the I total ruin of its upple orchards from I the same pest, and yet by the strin- I gent application of measures pros-1 crilwd and enforced by Government' . it soon regained its lost ground, and • has continued' a yearly increasing production ever sin<-.c. It was fairly WQIJ dempns'tratcd by the Government's experts at Otahuhu and Henderson that very badly diseased orchards enn be rendered clean and prod i <■ '. e. though there is no doubt that i'j the wetter climate of NewZealand upraying in less effective and requires mors repetition than »n Tasmania. With many o( the sinab I ler fruits there ore also difnculttsts to contend against that at one time | did not exist. We have imported all the European and Americaa plagues I of the orchardist, in most cases un- | wittingly, and we have also deliberately burdened purselvcs with many destructive European birds we need not have had. But with all these : difficulties to contend against, there is still plenty of proof thut fruits growing might be made very profit- | able. What is wanted in the first 1 place is a rigid enforcement of the Orchard Pestjs Apt. The man who will nu.kf! no effort i<o keep his fruit trees clean should be compelled ifo destroy them. He is a nuisance to other growers, whose efforts are jiiillificd by his neglect, and he stands in the way of the development of a profitable national industry. As welt as this [he Government should offer some eiv.'Qm , ivg(-''n« , nt to fruitgrowers' In tli» sliajjp of a j>«iJMfi on the planting ond cuf-e of orchards. The stimulative effect at bonuses is •well known, and has often been pffpp? tive in establishing industries whiisll soon become strong enough to stand alone. The growth of fruit canneries would naturally follow on the , abundant puadiurtion of fruit, but ' until orchards, clean and productive, . arc in full growth, the erection of canneries and the appointment oi j any more fruit-canning experts are, ] in our opinion, putting the cart before the horsp, J-Yui Warning, the- ' oretically, is an Idyllic und seductive ' form of land tillage, whhm trould 1 never, lack enthusiastic operators, if < thev cfluld feol sure of some remune- * ralivo Wetvrn lor their work. It ] takes ar least six years.to establish' * .aJham -m«d.,tlwn« »rm feWwKd' 1

can devote six yoars of unremitting labour ami a large output of money to an industry which may in the end prove unremunerativc, With a Government bonus to tide him over his years of waiting, the grower would stand on different ground. For this reason, and because we feel sure it would pay the colony, we advocate the measures we have referred to above, ON THE FOURTH PAGE. Literature.