The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 17. THE FOOD SUPPLY OF THE PEOPLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 17 May 1907, Page 2

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MAY 17. THE FOOD SUPPLY OF THE PEOPLE.

The people of Now Zealand arc a wellfoil people '->ut it is nut because food is cheap, in fact., if one considers the. ' position for a moment, lie will 11ml tint lie pays inort fur tin- privilege of li.lting his .interim- than any other person in the world. The neus that the ti»verninent lias chartered a trawler which will exploit the llsliing beds of this .'.)- lony, and, if possible, discover new ones, is good news if, among other licnelils it confers on the much-taxed colonist, it breaks up the Mi-rings tli.U arc a very heavy handicaji to the "father of a' family." The food supply generally of the' people is of the greatest possible import:!nee. Xot only must tile ipiantilv be sullicient. bin the <pialily good. ' The food products 0! this colony are particular!!' plentiful, easy to grow, anil of sound i|iiallty. 'l'he New /icalindcr is very iniu-ll handicapped in gettill" them to hi- table, however. The iirwul made of the Hour from the wheal of the New Zealand field:, is dearer in this colony than is the broad from the sain ' wheat in the Home land. It is. as you see, possible for the Home shipper to pay all charges and to sell a loaf as cheap or cheaper Hum the New Zealand baker can do.

In this land of mutton it is notorious that the average citizen frequently does not know what prime mutton tastes like. The market is run almost entirely for the Old Country. Always we are looking for fresh markets for our surplus meat when there - is no surplus. Any second* or thirds that shippers know will not be accepted in the Smithlield market is of course kept in this colony and is sold to the coin-ri-al, who pnys for it a much higher price than his cousin in London does for the best cut* of the New Zealand product. There is no doubt that hundreds tf tons of the very best food are wasted in New Zealand every year, not because there are no markets for it, but because there are no ine:ins of gel ting, to the markets. In fact, one of the direct causes of the high prices of food to the New Zealander is the lack of roads. It is all very well to prove that Xew Zealand can grow as tine temperate fruits as any country in the world. It is not any use growing the best class of fruit if it rots on the ground. New Zealand might become the fruit garden of the world if the Government undertook no other public works whatever for the next few yon."* but the work of roading the country.

New Zealand snouia not be so far behind as it is in the matter of roads. This is the reason why California, and, Indeed, every country that grows anything, can face the still tariff imposed on their goods coming into this country and wipe out the local article. As an illustration, California is able to bind fruit in Dunedin after paying the duty and to sell it at a less price, tlcm the seller does for the Whangarei article. The Whangarei grower may not ask a big price from the Dunedin merchant, but by the lime the carting, shipping, and handling generally have taken place there is nothing for the grower in it, and the retailer—generally the Chinaman—is the only person who makes anything out of the deal at all. The way-back fruit-grower becomes di.-gustod. He lets his trees go to ruins merely because of these still' charges. The stomach ot' the people should be the State's first consideration. To see tinned salmon from llritisli Columbia, tinned tomatoes from the. South of France, tinned peae'.ies from California, raisins from Smyrna, olive oil from Italy, bottled peas from Heaven alone knows where, and nicely colored up with Palis green iu Xew Zealand, is a disgrace to any country that has the facilities for growing them all as Xew Zealand has.

Rous" round the grocers' shops aim set! where our foodstull's come from. (iovd cornllour from England and vile cornHour from America. We can grow maize and d ( > profess to grow it in tile Bay of IT'iity. Smoked ling from Scotland. Have yon seen any lisli in New Zealand'; .lam from Dundee and baby-food from England, possibly made from colonial grain. We pay four times the price for any of these articles that (hey are worth. Coffee and tea we can't grow and if we could somebody would -'av that tea and cullec 'planters couldn't afford to pay eight shillings a day iu wages. His a shrieking absurdity that the man in the backblocks of Xew Zealand should largely subsist on foreign tinned stuff. If he needs a stimulant lie buys whisky made iu Ireland or Scotland, lie may desiie a bottle of Xew Zealand wine but 110 one recommends it, although if someone pointed out that this colony might setlie I lie drink business iu one act by clearing out the foreign lii|iior and insisting that the people drink this colony's incomparable wines, etc., someone might grow more grapes. We talk about getting cheap grapes from South Australia. These grapes wei'c being sold in Christchurch at sixpence |>r pound not long ago. What is there to prevent New Zealand from supplying her own markets with grapes as good and as cheap as those from South Australia

There arc more bananas sold in New Zealand than any other kind of fruit. It is a good fruit but we do not get it ripe. It has no greater value that the fruits wo are able to grow so easily in New Zealand but it seems to have become almost a religion with the people of this country. Food is so easy to obtain with ji minimum of labor that it is nhvaya a marvel how there are any hungry people in the world. The difficulty is in the distribution. Although foodstuffs may be too plentiful in the North there may be empty stomachs in the South and political mummy that cannot grasp the problem of distribution is a poor article. There is need to foster inter-colonial or international trade as there is to foster internal trade. New Zealand is largely unproductive, and could be made luxu rionsly productive, with food prices as small as those of any other country. , To make it worth the while of New | Zealanders to n>e their own market- il i is necessary to offer every facility Jo and encourage the man on the land, to | make the life of the farmer attractive • and congenial, to bring into profit t f ie present idle lands of the colony, irr spare 7io efl'ort in giving decent roads to the settlers, to drop the present Laud Pull as mie would a hot potato, to prosecute the work of roading all over the country, and to cheapen freight- on train and steamer. Were this done, we arc satisfied we would have a belter. larger and cheaper food .supply -;or the people. Tlesides the questions of good roads, bringing into profit >ur present unused lands, and good cheap food, the quest ion of preference to the colony's supplies to the Old Land is not worth consideration.