Dear Potatoes.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7868, 10 July 1905, Page 4

Dear Potatoes.

——o A MATTER FOR HOUSEHOLDERS. "Potatoes £R lo £8 10s per ton," runs Monday's Wellington market report. The item impressed a Post reporter with the idea that a potato famine was imminent, and led to enquiries being made aiming wholesale produce merchants. The replies were rcassurim;, and will doubtless tie welcome to heads oi families, proprietors of boarding houses, and others inr whom the potato Is cooked. Incidentally it tr.iiisiii.-.-.i ||- a t the sales of rice have grc.itly ::;iin in consequence nf present prices of potatoes being prohibitive to some people, and the consumption of bread is also reported to have increased through tia- same cause. 'I don't think the case is as serious as some people imagine," said one Wholesaler. 'There tja~ been « shortage of the New Zealand crop, we all know, but that is compensated for to a iargc extent by the cessation of export to Australia. Last year w«- sent away large quantities, but (his year all export of potatoes is prohibited. There are a g ()l «| number of tons held in Wellington on the spirilla l ion of furl Iter nsi-s, )>ut I don't think the price will advance any fuilher; we are a, the top, [ think. Besides, Wc have onlv tiuec more months to go before the new crop will be. coming in, and all the present slocks will reed to he disposed of before then if holders arc lo make present rates."

The point concerning; cxporl induced the reporter to visit the Customs Department, where he ascertained dial 36118 lons of potutors w.-rc e\ ported from New Zealand 1o Australia last year, the total value being £3366. Another merchant Was even more consoling to householders. Hven at present prices, he nil, potatoes could l»e profitably imported to Iffcl'.linglon from Tasmania, where tlie season's crop has been prolific. The i freight is £1 3s 6d per ton, and tinduty 20 per cent., but the price at which the tubers may lie bought J would still leave a profit margin lon New Zealand prices. "And it only needs another rise," he conIcluded, "to make importations from Canada and San Francisco possible ami profitable:"