DUTY ON FRUIT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 307, 29 December 1891, Page 2

DUTY ON FRUIT.

(To tho Editor.)

Sm,-~I hope you .will give me room for a | few remarks upon the leader of Monday last re. tho fruit industry of New Zealand. It seem*) to be bhe-jcustom with novvspaper correspondents to fihow that the other man does not understand his subject and ie fnil of mistakes and exaggerations from beginning to end. I will not attempt this, for I believe we both have the end in view, namely, tho prosperity of i New Zealand, and tHo welfare of the rnauy,"j though wo may differ as to the means by which this is to bo attained. Still, there are one or two .statements that I cannot allow .to go unchallenged. You as much as say that "we cannot compete with Rarotonga in orange culture," and I say .wo can, and it is only a question of time when thousands of acres in the northern part of New Zealand that are now unproductive will be covered with fragrant OVanr'O TOVQSj supporting a well-to-do and industrious population, who will not only supply "the whole of i>Tew 2&i-~ laud With oranges, but export) largo quantities fco Australia, America and Europe. In support of thia assertion you may be surprised to learn that eight acres of iund at VVhangarei that were covered with hiyh boatree ten. years ago produced last season tifciti'/ tons (800 caees) of oramjes, not those' large sweet flavourless fruits that | often come from the islands ■in a aetni- i formeiiiod state and aro dignified by the name of oranges, but fruit that will compare with the rinesb production of the Mediterranean-groves. If some encouragement is not given to orangre-grov/ing in New Zealand this prosperous time may be delayed for year.?, and our children may still be deluded by tho beliof that these pale yellow productions aro oranges. lb is not many years sinco California wae in much the same condition with their orange-growing as we are. They imported what in their ignorance were called oranges from tho South Sea Islands by the shipload, the local production being smaller in proportion than oure. Twenty years after the' imposition of a small duty they haxl thousands of acrea in oranges, and exported them by the train-load ; and, notwithstanding the duty, fruit forms a much larger part of an American's ordinary diet than a New Zealander's. I hope, nexc September, you will accept a case of what I call oranj>ee, and that they will be a practical proof that my strictures on the Island oranges, though perhaps a little fifongly worded, are in tho main correct. — lam, etc., H. Dobbib. "Whangarei, 24th December, 1891.