CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 250, 21 October 1944, Page 4

CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

VEGETABLE SUPPLIES

(To the Editor) In the House during the debate on the Department of Agriculture Estimates, the Minister, in referring to the Pukekohe Production Conf. mittee's scheme which produced an additional 1000 acres of vegetables for the troops, stated that the vegetables delivered equalled oni„ 4,3 tons per acre. Later the memhn* for Roskill stated that the tion of the commercial grower concerned totalled only 3 9 £ compared .with 4.4 tons per'acrf from the State gardens. The truth is that the Department of Agricui ture was overwhelmed with thn production from the area and th! officers were not able to handle th» vegetables produced, with the result that we were obliged to market a large proportion in the ordinary wav for civilian consumption, whilst the balance not taken by the Department was left to rot in the fields and -was later paid for on the instruction of the War Cabinet. The figures quoted by the Minister and Mr. Richards represented onlv that portion of the production takef by the Department and not the actual yield per acre For instance, the Department was not able to handle the 100 tons of tomatoes grown for them and these were delivered direct to the Auckland condimentors. Again they could not handle the potato crop grown on contract, and at the request of the Government we marketed most of the tonnage through the local produce merchants for civilian consumption, indeed, so helpfutwere our efforts in this direction that we were later asked to market contract cabbages at a time when these were bringing 1/6 per 701b sacks in the Auckland markets. The Pukekohe Production Committee's scheme was so successful and the tonnage so heavy, that the Department officers were totally unable to cope with the output. H. BURROWS, J.P., Vice-President Dominion Council of Commercial Gardeners.