FRUIT CULTIVATION IN CENTRAL OTAGO.

Evening Star, Issue 9387, 8 May 1894, Page 4

FRUIT CULTIVATION IN CENTRAL OTAGO.

TO THE EDITOR Sib,—l have just read an article re 'Fruit Cultivation in Central Otago,' which appeared in your paper of the 26th April. I have also recently finished reading a very interesting and exhaustive description of Messrs Chaffey Bros.' irrigation colony at Miltlura, in "Victoria, which appears in the supplement of the 'Leader' (Melbourne) of the 24th March. Comparing the two descriptions of climato, etc., I feel convinced that the interior of Otago is 1 just as good, ff not better, tfyan Mildura for fruit cultivation.

——■—— in i ! jij in i» »«——■— If this be boj one naturally wonders that fruffc» growing is not carried on more in Otago. The answer is v«ry simple—want of money for irrffation'and'ijo forth. Now, why could not our lovemfnent spend money in irrigating the country suitable for this branch of industry ? "Havc'toboriow," I think I hear somebody say. Well, supposing they will have to borrow (which they will havo to do presently, whether or not), the raonoy would bo judiciously sprat. For this reason: If a firin or company like Messrs Cliaffey Bros, can afford to expend money in irrigation with a hope of good returns and big dividends in a place like Mildura, surely the Government, who do not want big returns, but good interest, could afford to borrow in order to carry on the same thing in Otago. Messrs Cliaffey, of course, go in for fruit-growing, but Wo could hardly expect the Government to go that far. I hear another person ask: "If the Government do not grow fruit like Chaffey Bros, how are they going to get their interest V In this way: They spend money on irrigating, say, 50,000 acres of land; they employ a large number of people in doing so, hence solving the unemployed, difficulty for a time, at least, and then, when the work is complete, cut the land up into ten and twenty-acre sections, or as required, and lease to fruit-growers. There will be numerous applications for the land, and they can charge such an annual rental and water r*to as will pay a good interest on the money spent. Again I hear a murmur: "But tho Government must not speculate with borrowed money." ■This is no more a specalationthan the buying up of big estates. Take the Cheviot purchase for an example. It has cost thousands, and will employ but few people as compared with what the same amount of money would have emplo3ed had it been spent in advancing fruit culture. "There is no market for fruit," says another. An inexhaustible market in tinned fruits aud dried fruits, such as raisins and currant*, is London. It appears to me, as a young New Zealander, that the Government have toogreat a tendency to "hang after" franchise Bilh, labor Bills, liquor laws, etc., instead of looking after the welfare of the.country as a whole and advancing its commercial interests. To those interested in this industry and the advancement of Otago I would recommend them to read the above history of Mildura, and I daresay the pap?r is to be obtained from any bookseller. When they have read that they then will have some idea of the immense industry whioh awaits development.—l am, etc., H.J.R. Palmerston No:th, May 3.