NEW ZEALAND NEWS

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 583, 11 August 1909, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND NEWS

(By TeleerfiDh.—Prcsa Association.) THE FRUIT INDUSTRY. STATEMENT BY HON. T. MACKENZIE. Timaru,, August 10. Tho Hon. Thomas Mackenzie, interviewed by a "Post" reporter to-day, said there was a great future before the Now Zoaland fruit industry. Great Britain imported £10,000,000 worth of fruit annually, including £2,000,000 worth of apples, and £1,500,000 worth of pears 'Hie Department had been experimenting in fruit-growing in various parts of the Dominion with eminently satisfactory results. Apples producod in . experimental orchards realised a net profit of lfd. per lb. in London, representing £30 an acre. Now Zealand imported £25,000 worth of apples, and £35,000 worth of canned fruit annually, all of whioli could bo grown hero. Thus fruitgrowers had a Home market of £60,000 to start working on without going out of tho Dominion. Large territories in the Auckland Province reckoned useless, and valued at ss. per acre, were found by experiment capable of producing excellent fruit,. and.' a. family could be supported oil 20 acres .of the same. Hie Department was now planting orchards, with a viow to settling families, whose "hoods had .approved knowledge' of fruit culture. Mr. Kirk, of the Biologioal Department, was leaving'■Wellington l en Friday for Tasmania, in connection with the potato blight there, and would obtain all available information about the fruit industry in Tasmania. ACTION FOR SLANDER. - Auckland, August 10. In the Supreme Court to-day, an action brought by Dr. A. H. Hallen against Samuel Orawford, chairman of the Te Puke Road Board, and a member of the Tauranga County Council, for slander, was concluded, the jury awarding plaintiff £50. , Palmerston,. August 10. Entries for the ladies I 'golf championship of New Zealand, close to-day. Already many have, been recoived, the number assuring a highly < representative gathering.