THE APPLE EXPORT VENTURE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1089, 30 March 1911, Page 8

THE APPLE EXPORT VENTURE.

SOME, CRITICISMS. \ ." '".'.." .'.'.[To the Editor.] ' .'■ ] Sir,—The first seritcneo oi an inter- ! view you published this morning on "The Apple Export: Venture" might quite ' justifiably be said to contain the sug- • cstio falsi. It. .assumes that thero is al- 1 ready a successful apple , export trade with London, and that what is now being done to encourage New Zealand applegrower's to ship away the. bulk of their choicest produce by, the stimulus of, a Government guarantee is nothing more than an effort to build it up, develop it, and so increase its magnitude. Your authority has not given any indication that he possesses any particularly special knowledge of fruit-growing or of fruit- j marketing beyond that which is relative to shipping. He may know something ot shipping, but his ventures away from that subject during the interview are indeed hopeless. ■ The desire that no sane effort should ba spared to secure profitable Markets for oiir fruit is so general that it needs no reiteration, but it must'ever bo kept 111 mind that it is a probable market for fruit-farmers that is paramount and not the building up of an export trade with public -money; , Experience- teaches that growers 'for the London market are not likely, to average more than one penny per lb. for their apples at best, and up" to the present the New Zealand taxpayer has had to' pay even that. ■ It is riot reasonable, to expect that, growers will continue to ship at such a price, nor is it .'likely that .taxpayers-will consent to continue .to .pay. a premium ■ to have an important, article of -food supply shipped away while it'is produced,in altogether insufficient quantities for their own needs and demands.". Tour authority seems very anxious to convince your .readers, that the prospects of developing and 'building up an export trade, in apples.is exceedingly bright and encouraging;, but, sir., it would have been much, more to the point.had it been frankly stated 1 .that the Government, by guarantee, was endeavouring to inaugurate:.or establish an-apple'export trade; that abortive j.tests' had been made, but before, abandoning the project as hopeless this, year's . shipments . were being sent .Home as a final effort. That-would, I think, have been much 'nearer the position. The effort at reply your authority gives to previous writers in your columns-.is-'absurd, illogical, and not at all a worthy emanation, from an intelligent business man. _ Ho' says: "It has been argued that fruit is still dear and scarce in partsof New, Zealand, and until the growers can supply the local wants it is unwise to trouble about outside markets; that the high prices of fruit in New Zealand deprive the producers of justifications for opening up markets abroad; and that in both these circumstances the State should not aid an export enterprise. ; It does not seem that these, arguments, hare", had. effect. Probably it is sufficient to answer, that butter, might be .cheaper in New Zealand if we had no outside market to cater for." .;■;'■■ Surely, sir, it is lamentable that those who can find no. more logical, or even sensible, reply, to such . contentions as quoted .'above should lay claim to being an . authority. "A- moderately-advanced schoolboy would, have exhibited a more intelligent grasp of the widely diffcrine conditions governing the butter and apple export trades., Of butter New Zealand produces, hundreds, of-.tons moro than it can consume, while of apples it can consume, at a profit to growers, hundreds 6f tons more than'it produces. Having disposed of this great effort at analogy, and comparison, -"Authority's'*'* ' only other comparison may bo considered that of the New Zealand apple trade with that of Tasmania. How Tasmanians must chuckle at our. unsophisticated method?. In substance,the Tasmanian.business man says to his New Zealand confrere: "You go on and build up your London apple trade, you may eventually get a penny a pound net profit, and in the meantime Tasmania will surjply your needs at threepence per, pound." It is a fact, sir, that while we are sending our choicest apples to Londof, in an effort to realise, one penny a- pound, we are importing immense quantities of apples from Tasmania, for which, wo .are • p.ayine wholesale not less than threepence per pound, including costs. Good business for the Tasmanians you will say. We now import one-third, in value..of the total quantity of fruit consumed iri New Zealand,,and it seems doubtful economy, at least, ■■ to export another third at one penny pound and replace, it with imports, at .threepence a pound.—l am, etc., POMONA.