TOBACCO GROWING.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 7564, 7 May 1919, Page 7

TOBACCO GROWING.

IDEAL CONDITIONS IN NELSON

Before the Industries Committee m Napier, evidence was given as follows:

James Gilmour, tobacco manufacturer, said that the district and Nelson could grow good tobacco, as good as any in America. Nelson was the better dis. trict, but Hawke's Bay tobacco was grown too near the sea and, therefore, suffered from the salt. The industry was well worth going in for and had come to stay. A iiglit sandy soil was necessary, without any late frosts. Anybody who could grow a cabbage could grow tobacco, but experience was wanted when the leaf \vas ripe. If the farmers took up the cultivation of tobacco, it would pay better than cereals. Instructors would be required by growers. Experts were necessary, oterwise growers would fail the first year and become disheartened.

To Mr. Hudson: Unless the Government helped the new industry, it would be very hard for. it to be carried on.

Witness: Motueka was the best tobacco growing district in Australasia. American experts had been a failure m Australia because the conditions were so different. America was the ideal country for raising the leaf as sun-drying was sufficient there, in Australasia they had to get rid of impurities, particularly a bad smell noticeable when the leaf was curing. Manufacturing processes could dispose of the impurities. Nothing injurious was nut into American tobacco to improve the flavour. Anything put into tobacco could be put oti a dinner table with safety: The local plant was right up to date and was capable of producing all the tobacco that could be smoked in New Zealand. Twothirds of. the tobacco grown in Australia was grown by Chinamen. Witness had tried to persuade his employers to remove their factory to Motueka.

To Mr. Wilkinson: A Government royalty of a penny a, pound on the fin ishad article at barn would greatly help the production in the Dominion. The industry would be suitable for returned soldiers and so would the factory work. In three years he hoped to see 300 hands employed in the local factoiy.' It was quite a healthy business. Curing barns would cost under £2000 for a ten-acre patch and the Government should assist in erecting the barns. Growers wouM do well at 1 /6 per pound.