MARKETING IN FRANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 August 1916, Page 3

MARKETING IN FRANCE.

~ HOW IT STRIKES A TCEffl I ZEALANDER. INTERESTING COMPARISONS BY A KEEN OBSERVER, Sergt. Cecil S. Robertson, son of Mr. Geo. Robertson, of the Government Insurance Department, gives his impressions of the way marketing is done in France in the following interesting letter:— i ''The last trip I happened by luck to arrive in Boulogne on Market Day, and was greatly interested in the way that the housewives-purchase their fish and week's supply of perishable provisions, At an early hour the peasants from the surrounding districts begin to arrive in town in their quaint covered-in carts, and start arranging their wares in stalls and on the pavements of the market square. By nine o'clock the market is in full swing, and the square is packed with a good-natured babbling crowd socking the stall where the best value is to be had for a franc. "First wo come to the stalls where poultry is to be bought, all plucked and ready for the pan. One old woman has already sold out, as her prices were a few centimes cheaper than her neighbors', but all the other stalls are doing a flourishing trade. Next are the stalls whore all manner of cheeses are to be had, from small cream cheeses the size of a cake of soap to the big flat ones the size of a bicycle wheel. They '.mell most appetising and arc finding a ready sale, Then we come to the vegetables, so very clean and fresh, lettuces, carrots, asparagus, spring onions, beans, peas, and new potatoes. Here trade is very brisk, and many stalls are already depleted, Cherries and strawberries there are in abundance and such beautiful fruit, red and luscious. I have never seen anything to approach them in Now Zealand, They are selling like hot cakes, but they are cheap, and there are more than enough for everybody. Then there are the stalls of flowering pot plants and cut flowers, masses of bloom, and a great sight. They are eagerly sought after. Old women, with their baskets of eggs, butter, and honey, preserves, and all manner of home-made commodities aro squatting everywhere. It is a great sight, and one cannot help thinking what a boon a weekly market of this description, where, one could buy all these things, knowing them to be perfectly clean and wholesome, would be in New Zealand.

"All clay long in the streets one hears the quaint call of the fish girls hawking their wares, which they carry in large baskets held up by a strap across their chests. They are quaint figures in their pieated skirts, small poke bonnets and wooden shoes. I visited the fish market ■and watched the excitement for some jtirnc; it was very interesting, but too noisy and smelly to stay long. Everything was spotlessly clean and fresh, and all fish, from young sharks and skates to soles and mackerel, found a ready sale. New Zealand is a long way behindhand in the way of the. distribution of foodstuffs, and it is a shame that good markets are not established in each town, where the housewife could buy direct instead of buying in stuffy and dirty shops, where ' the goods have passed through several hands, each making a profit, and in the majority of cases they are anything but fresh. We have a lot to learn, especially in the cultivation Inc. ''There is, as you know, little or nn "'aste space in this country. We motored down hero this time and I got a good idea of the rural parts. Paddocks of peas, broad beans, clover and lucerne, ail looking at their best, and the wheat and oats just beginning to be touched by the sun. The country is lovely at present, and the harvest is hound to lie good. All the work is being done by women and old men, for, of course, all thtt young men are away fighting. Another thing that struck me was the quantity of wild flowers one sees by the roadside. We had a breakdown about twenty kilometers south of St. Otncr, and I got out and wandered in tin- fields. I picked daises, buttercups, forget-me-nots, cowslips, and downs of flowers I did not know. I also picked and ate wild strawberries and cherries. 1 struck one old friend sorrei, hut t was not much in evidence. I would like to get loose there with a gun and dog, for, just walking round the edge of some woods, I put up three brace of partridges and two cock pheasants. Tin; absence of unsightly fences is very noticejble, hawthorn hedges are everywhere and all in blossom, none of the old barbed wire or post and rail fences are to be seen anywhere."