PICKLES, SAUCES AND CONDIMENTS.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14658, 6 May 1913, Page 10

PICKLES, SAUCES AND CONDIMENTS.

. Though the number of. works in Canterbury at which pickles, sauce 3 and condiments are manufactured are few in number the industry is by no means one of the least in the provincial district. Quito one-half of the pickles manufactured in the Dominion are of Canterbury origin and, taking the Dominion as a whole, it is Canterbury manufactured pickles which are to be found from one end of the country to the other. As is the case in several cMior Canterbury industries, the pickle and sauce industry would have expanded more, and would have shown a consid jrably greater output if in recent years there had been available a larger amount of girl labour. Manufacturers in recent years have had to depend for female labour on elderly women, and owing to the fact that no young girls have come forward and offered their services there are no recruits qualifying to take the places of the older girls, vho in the natural course of things will be taking up domestic duties. The difficulty of securing sufficient female labour at reasonable rates of wages is a very real one, and unless the problem is solved it will greatly hamper the industry. The appended table shows the number of hands employed in the works in Canterbury: 1901 ... & ?6 1906 ... 55 70 125 1911 ... 31 21 ,52 It is estimated that twenty years ago the value of the output from the in Canterbury did not exceed £10,000 per annum; that ten years ago it did not exceed £25,000 per annum: and that at present the value of the : output is between £30,000 and £35 000 ! .per annum. The manufacture' of sauces has shown a considerable increase recently, and owing to the operation of tho Pure Foods Act a considerable expansion in the output of malt vinegar is confidently anticipated, lakinpc the Dominion as a whole the industry has made big progress in the past lo years, tho output in 1896 totalling, in value £13,417 whilst in 1911 it was £34,701. As a general rule Canterbury manufacturers are at present obtaining higher prices for their goods than they did ten years ago, but tho increased cost of labour, ihi ffVT C,t ? °- f kbour. ha 7e had the effect of reducing profits to some

Importations do not affect Ihe local fac *V rCr . t , 0 , an r appreciable ex. tent as the Pl cklo and sauce industry try P and the indu7The future of the industry depends SoW y °" tho s «tisfacto^ P solu! tion of the present difficulty in secur--7h K + ,Clo , nt fema, ° labour. W?th that difficulty solved the industry ie capable of considerable expans on