WHERE IS NEW ZEALAND?

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13378, 20 March 1909, Page 5

WHERE IS NEW ZEALAND?

———————— APPLES FOR EXPORT. "Tlie one thing that struck mc most forcibly in visiting Australia and Tasmania was the enormous dimensions that the apple-growing industry of Tasmania has assumed." This was the observation of a "Wellington merchant who had just returned from the Commonwealth to an "Evening Post" reporter on Wednesday. "When I was at Hobart a few days ago there wero thousands of cases of apples stocked ready for shipment and awaiting ocean liners. Tho biggest steamers call at Hobart during tho season to load' fruit, and they call two or three at a time. It is a'White Star liner to-day, an Orient liner to-morrow, a P. and O. boat another day, _U big liners; all liners calling for apples and nothing elsf.

"I couldn't help thinking as I watched this activity at Hobart, where docs New Zealand come in? Nowhere. There is no earthly reason why we should not export as much and more than Tasmania. Wo havo the climate —all climates for that matter—suitable for fruit both late and early, and yet we allow our energetic Tasmanian fricnus to keep this profitable market to themselves. . It did seem a pity to mc that we, so far, have done little or practically nothing in the woy of exporting apples to London. It might bo said wo have orchard pests. That is true: but they can be, and are being, successfully dealt with by our Agri-o-'.ltural Department. i*-k> far as that 'ii-partment is concerned, there oan be no doubt but that it i.s doing its utmost to cleanse the-orchards; but tho pest difficulty confronted tho Tasmanian orchardists in the beginning, and they completely overcame it. These people deserve tlie greatest- praise for their intelligence and enterprise in connection with their apple export trade. It has grown from quite humble beginnings, and has beeu of inestimable good to tho country. Why cannot we do as well— aye, even better than the Tasmanians, I say again, in regard- to exporting fruit? It is a mystery to mc, it is a mystery to everyone outside of Now Zealandi who knows the country, and has seen the really splendid fruit we can grow here -when w© have a mind to. The Tasmanians set us an example in this matter that wo cannot afford to neglect, and it is surprising to mc that we have neglected, it so long."