THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1886.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7392, 23 March 1886, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1886.

A telegram dated London 20th instant notifies the arrival of a shipment of fruit from Melbourne, and this, we understand, will be followed by a consignment of four tons every fortnight, so that by means of the Exhibition at Kensington the opportunity may be tested for establishing a regular export from Victoria. The fact that England now imports, not only the varieties she must raise in the hot-house or not raise at all, but also the fruit her own growers produce—as, for instance, orchard sorts from America, or hazelnuts from the Black Sea ports of Asia —enables us tg understand what the facilities of commerce nowadays admit of. Indeed, we have it illustrated before our eyes out here, in the circumstance that our New Zealand dairy produce finds a market in Sydney, notwithstanding the vicinity of the district of Illawarra, very notable for its dairies. But we need not wander beyond our own colony for an illustration. New Zealand is already a great country for fruit. It is raised of many kinds, in so much abundance that ever and anon we are told the growers do not know what to do with it. A couple of days ago the reader saw in our columns extracts from the local journals telling how in parts of Canterbury the orchards were yielding such quantities of fruit that the growers would be glad to sell it for a halfpenny a pound, and do not see how they are to dispose of it except by giving it to the pigs. Are we not familiar with the same complaint from our Auckland orchardists ? And yet, while such is the state of things in the country, have we not in the town quantities of fruit imported from outside? Are not the English varieties which our own settlers produce so abundantly, but declare they do not know how to dispose of, fetched to our ports from Tasmania and are not the semitropical varieties which also ought to be abundantly raised here, brought hither from other South Sea Islands or from Sydney 1 We are glad to see that the settlers in the Cambridge district of Waikato are now practicallly bestirring themselves—their arrangements for jam-making and fruit-preserving are certain to turn out a great success; and no doubt by-and-by they will also take in hand the production of cider and perry, which pays so well in England, in the Channel Islands, and in the Norman departments of France. Meanwhile, however, why do they neglect the opportunity of town markets for the sale of fruit in its simple state ? A great deal is said of the impediments cast in the way by the middleman. But the growers are not children that they must allow their progress to be thus artificially barred ? Can they devise no means of remedy ? Tons of fruit would be consumed in the towns for the bushels now if the townspeople could get it on reasonable terms.

To "send coals to Newcastle" is a proverbial absurdity. But in these days of facile transport it is often, instead of an absurd thing, an exceedingly judicious, a very wise and successful speculation. To forward orchard fruits from America to England, despite her circle of orchard counties ; to forward the same from Tasmania to Auckland, despite her extensive orchards a few miles away; to forward dairy produce from Auckland to Sydney, despite her dairy district of lllawarraall that is " sending coals to Newcastle," and yet it is found in practice to be no absurdity, but a very sensible piece of business for the speculator. The fact is the new facilities of commerce—the rapidity, cheapness, security of transport—have given wings to energy and enterprise. They enable the alert to often find in the most unexpected quarters other markets as well as their own. Of course, it is not always the fault of the local producer that competitors at a great distance are able to divide the market with him. Half-a-dozen years ago Mr. Gladstone urged upon the agriculturists of the old country that as cereals pay so poorly they should more completely supply the fruit market for which imports come across the Atlantic. But the extensive planting of new orchards which this would involve had too little encouragement in the land laws and the relation of the tenant to his improvements. It is otherwise out here, and it is entirely our own fault if the raising of fruit, which can be turned to account in so many ways, and be put on the market in so many forms, does not soon become a staple source of wealth to the colony, a great New Zealand industry. And talking of outside markets, we believe that none will more gladly receive this and other articles of our production than the markets of India—when regular means of communication with them are once established. As regards fruit, an enormous amount of different varieties used to be carried down to the hot plains on camel-back from the valleys of Afghanistan. It was a slow and expensive mode of carriage. The railroad has now in some degree taken the place of the camel, but there is fine opportunity for a fruit export from these colonies, and the consumers, we must recollect, are not limited to the Europeans in India. They alone will take our frozen !

meats, but there are two hundred millions of native fruit-e»ters in that quarter. Indeed, when we consider the market which is presented by Hindustan for many of our commodities, it seems odd that a regular line of steamers is not yet laid down between Australasian ports and Ca'cutta and Madras, or Bombay. For example copper is a metal so much used by the nati .es that immense quantities are required there, and New Zealand as well as South Australia could now send it. Shiploads of coal can be always sold off-hand in Indian ports. For their light woollen fabrics they need a material superior to the wiry fleeces of their own sheep ; and, besides, the wool we believe there would be sale for a suitable class of goods from our woollen factories. They have established breweries on the slopes of the Himalayas, but they import the hops all the way from Europe, at a higher cos\; than could be obtained from New Zealand. Though for some time they have been making beer there, we learned at the time of the Calcutta Exhibition that there is an opening for New Zealand light beers as well as for Australian wines a hearty welcome can always be relied on in that torrid climate for such cool, refreshing beverages as cider, and perry and mead, all of which we will soon be in a position to furnish. Thanks to the enterprise of Mr. Firth, beekeeping will become widespread through New Zealand, and honey and the drinks made from it can go to India with our frozen meats and produce of the dairy. For hides and divers other colonial matters a ready sale is always to be had there. Last, not least, there is the horse market. With so much encouragement to trade, it does seem odd that these colonies have yet no regular steam connection with India.