ARGENTINA AS A REPUBLIC,

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 101, 8 May 1901, Page 2

ARGENTINA AS A REPUBLIC,

(To the Editor the Times.) Patagonia, Feb. 1901. Sir, —It was with much interest that I ’‘read in your edition of Oct. 3rd an article entitled “ Supplying the Markets.’,’ In this article Argentina is compared with New Zealand and Australia. It seemed to me that the writer of the article must have been familiar only with the Northern part of the Argentine Republic. He says that Argentina possesses a decided advantage over Australia in that it has plenty of water within at least thirty feet of the surface. Another advantage, he says, is that labor is cheaper in Argentina. As applied to tho Province of Buenos Aires, both these statements are absolutely correct. - But in the Argentine Republic, as in other provinces I have travelled, accompanied by Mr A. S. MacPliail of Gisborne, there are hundreds of miles of barren dry land, where water could not bo got at the depth of hundreds of feet. And again while labor in Buenos Aires is cheaper than in New Zealand in other parts it is much dearer. Then the writer says that though Argentina is New Zealand’s formidable rival in the meat freezing industry she cannot compete with New Zealand in the dairying industry, for which pursuit New Zealand is particularly suited. I know New Zealand fairly well and I must say that there are many parts of Argentina even better suited for dairying than tho best of New Zealand, although the country being a new one, this industry has not yet been taken up. Hoping I have not trespassed too much on your valuable space.—l am, etc.,

H. D. DeLautour,