HOW PROTECTION PANS OUT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3046, 23 January 1892, Page 2

HOW PROTECTION PANS OUT.

Considering the large quantity of_ fruit now grown in New Zta'atid, the difficulty of procuring a market for the eaine, and the fact that there are now several " jam " factories established in the colony, one would have thought that these concerns would have been able to defy foreign competition, even without the aid of a protective duty on the imported article. Such is not the case, however. " Wet nursed " by the duty of 2d per lb. imposed on imported jams and jellies, the majority of colonial manufacturers have been content to turn out a peculiarly colonial article, under the delusion that the twopenny margin was quite sufficient to secure the market, irrespective of the question of quality—they imagine that the pockets and not the tastes of their customers are the only eonsideration. An instance came under :>ur notice recently which bears us out in this opinion. Enquiring at a shop in Hamilton, a short time hack, for marina'ade, a customer was informed that that in stock, of Auckland manufacture, was unfit for sale. The jams in stock (also of Auckland make) were, however, said to be Al, and the purchaser selected a tin marked " .Black currant," not without much misgiving and a mental interrogation as to where they obtained the black currants from in Auckland. On opening the tin lat°r on, its contents were found to consist of a conglomerate of blackberry juice and a pulp of an undiscoverable nature. How such rubbish can be palmed otf as " black currant " jam ia a mystery, for there was not th« slightest trace, taste or smell of a black currant in it—the necessary essence or flavouring even having been omitted, this latter no doubt inadvertently. Until the colonial jams are as hone-tly and as carefully made as those of English manufacture, these latter will, from their superiority, force their way into the colonial markets, irrespective of the protective tariff, and ulitain a ready sale amongst those who regard quality as the Hr.«t consideration in purchasing. In another column Mr J. T. H"rne announces tiio arrival of a consignment of English jairn, jellies and marma'a-ie, tastefully put up in glass jars, jugs and cups and β-muer-, a"d notwithstanding that an extra duty was demanded on these as glass and earthenware, they are put upon the local market at a price but little higher than tliat charged fur the coIolia! article.