Northland Age The Voice of the Far North FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1949 CREATED PARADISE

Northland Age, Volume XVIII, Issue 37, 11 February 1949, Page 3

Northland Age The Voice of the Far North FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1949 CREATED PARADISE

How often have we read of the beauty of a tropic paradise which supposedly is set in a sapphire sea scintillating beneath an intense sun in an equatorial sky ? Coral strands are a glimmer, and tropical fruits are to be had for a j a the mere plucking. These tropic paradises were sadly mauled through the holocaust of the late war, and little yellow men despoiled and spoiled that which had !S not already fallen before a scorched earth policy inaugurated by a sorely t piessed white race, the protectors of the Kanaka race, resident of those islands and strands. 1. ce Since those days of ruin, there has sprung up an avarice amongst the races of those islands which is leaving us short of fruit and oth vr commodities which once were part and parcel of those coral islands. This avarice is of our own doing, for in those same war years, we were so short of labour for defence work, that we needs must emplov that which was offering in most cases, and in these same islands, prom bably the last bulwark of our defence, we had perforce to employ natives , j at a rate of pay in line with the rates that were being paid by our Allies. The natives became used to this, and became used to what that same | money would buy them by way of tinned foods, and when the wa r was done, and the occupation forces had all departed, the childlike mind of the native has not yet assimilated the idea that his own foods were the best for him, and he must grow his own, and also to earn something barterable, he must plant and grow more than he needs. As a result, we here in New Zealand suffer from a shortage of such things as oranges, bananas, pineapples and all those other fruits that we once could purchase in abundance. * a Just what are we to do about it ? In this Far North, and by this is meant the very Far North, shall we say north of Houhora, the climate is such that it is easily comparable to that where bananas grow in abundance. Has this yet been tried ? It is a well known fact chat people who are keen on experimenting in this type of horticulture, have successfully grown bananas, and are still doing so. This has been done well even so far south as Kaitaia itself. Why not let us then, go in for this' type of cropping on a large scale, and be ir. a position to supply the whole of New Zealand. e There would be no difficulty in acquiring the right type of plant, and with the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to apply to, there should be no difficulty in getting all the advice necessary as to the right treatment of soil for the successful growing of this necessary and succulent fruit. Further, in sheltered spots perhaps pineapples could be tried, and • there can be lo doubt that sweet oranges grown in New Zealand, even in Auckland and the Waikato and Bay of Plenty, compare more than , favourably in quality, sweetness and succulence, with an y imported fruiof like nature. Then we come to the matter of that scarcest of cereals. Rice. The climate here more than compares with the climatic conditions under which there are bumper crops of rice, and we have enough land that at present is merely waste to at least try to grow this for our own u'se. Australia has done so, and in doing s 0 managed to grow more than enough for her own use, and if the truth were only told, would be able to grow any quantity for export purposes. The fact remains that we are not getting ric e from Australia, and even if we were, would it not be better to keep the freight rates plus the cost of production, plus the profit made, in our own country, and in this particular instance, the bulk of it in our own community. It is not as if we would have to take land away fronf some other form of farming that is paying handsome profits. We would rot ! There are thousands of acres lying idle that produce nothing but excellent crops of scrub today, that tomorrow could be made to blossom out into one of the finest orchards in the world. • The experiment would perhaps be costly, but there is not a Government in the world would dare to give any excuse for the holding back of production for our own use, and perhaps for the use of lands overseas who are in dire need of such commodities either in a natural state or dehydrated. Such ventures achieved would have the fulsome effect of creating more industries than butter producing, and where these industries were, so must a Government give urgent consideration to transport and facilities for yet better transport. In effect then, for the betterment of one and all, for the betterment of the future of this Far North, let us all give earnest consideration i.o the foregoing, and try to evolve ways and means to bring this betterment into immediate being.