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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7646, 25 May 1886, Page 4

As we have great capabilities for fruitgrowing, are already great fruitgrowers, and are ambitious on the subject, it is too bad that we are not represented in this line at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition as our Australian neighbours have taken care to be. Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide sent exports of fruit in large quantity and variety. Those products of the orchards aud vineyards at the Antipodes seem to have made a sensation in London, fetched high prices, and there is no donbt have established a place in the home market for regular shipments. But where was the export from North New Zealand 1 Where the samples from those gardens of the Hesporides of which they have heard a good deal in the old country, inasmuch as this Island possesses on no point a wider reputation than for the natural adaptability to be a fruit-raising land. The Auckland export was frustrated. The liimutaka fellows had not the promised cool chamber prepared. So far the matter is unintelligible, but the consignment ought to have been seen to betimes, not delayed till the eleventh hour, and so exposed to accidents. We must try to remedy this remissness. Indeed, that there should be neglect of opportunity in showing the British public what we are able to do in this way is quite out of keeping with the enterprise and spirit exercised here for some time back in regard to fruit production. We have gone in very extensively for the growing of different varieties, and last year a factory for fruit-preserving and jam-making was established at Cambridge, and the making of cider and perry has just been commenced at Parnell. There is a most encouraging field for our enterprise in the production of fruits and their various derivatives. Besides the local demand there are many places abroad where people will be glad to

I receive such things from us, but the * world meets nobody half-way, and we must take. some little pains to secure good footing in those outside markets, and truly a most important opportunity „ is that' now afforded in the great London one. Victoria, New South W es, and Sou ■ < Australia have been wisely prompt in availing of the Exhibition to put well before the British public and the great omniverous metropolis their capability for supplying choice articles of consumption. As we anticipated, the Exhibition and accompanying sales are bringing their wines as well as fruits successfully to the front. As the reader is already aware, those colonies have been agitating for years to get their full-bodied wines admitted into England under the shilling duty, which at present covers only those not exceeding 22 degrees of alcoholic strength. We now learn by telegram that a clause of the new commercial > treaty between England and Spain gives Spanish wines up to 30 degrees of strength the benefit of the shilling duty, and that the privilege will likewise be extended to Australian vintages. A later telegram, of London, May 20, says that those wines are now underi going ah official examination by experts, and evidently this is preliminary to the new arrangement to make sure that the Australian wines up to 30 degrees are the pure juice of the grape, and do not owe their strength to " fortification " with brandy, to put down which practice the low duty on pure wines was introduced. Then, too, there is the news that London wine merchants are already largely purchasing the import. The Australians will have reason to congratulate themselves that they have made the most of the Exhibition, and | have not kept their light hidden under a bushel, and we remember it was said at the Bordeaux Exhibition that, in the future, wine and wool will be the staple exports of Australia. What the London telegrams tell us of the demand for apples, and the almost fabulous prices sometimes paid for pears from the Antipodes may be astounding in memory of the fact that Devon and Herefordshire are now only a few hours' distance from the great city ; that the Channel Islands are also near at hand, and that the,departments of Normandy, similarly remarkable for such productions, are at the opposite side of the narrow English Channel. At first sight it does appear incredible how London should not be abundantly supplied with the orchard fruits from those neighbouring localities, but should in addition eagerly buy up quantities fetched from the other side of the globe. We must, however, recollect that the world and its markets are not as they were a generation back. We must consider what it is to fill the mouths and cater for the tastes of the five millions of people, collected in that mighty city; and we must take into account the new rapidity and cheapness of seacarriage, and the means that have been contrived for keeping food fresh and unspoiled any length of time. This novel facility of ocean transport is of enormous commercial consequence for our insular community. It gives us an extraordinary range of outside markets for whatever of good quality we are able to send. Take our dairy produce for instance. We export butter and cheese to Sydney, although not far from that city is the dairy district of Illawarra. We send such articles to Melbourne, and as shown by late accounts, from thence by rail to Ballarat and other up-country towns. The juicy pastures of these Islands that enable us to raise sweeter mutton than they have in England (as Mr. Sala avers, and which : opinion we endorse) also naturally j constitute New Zealand the prime dairy region of Australasia. When we j obtain as handy means of shipment to i the ports of Queensland as at present '• to Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, J the tropical colony is sure to become < the chief of Australian customers for 1 the produce of our dairies and fishing < grounds. Indeed, the opening of new i markets for whatever we are able to 1 ship depends on the establishment of 1 facile communication. The moment - we have steam communication with i India a great market will be unlocked < there, for, in the way of food, our ' fruits and vegetables, fresh and pre- [ served ; cool summer drinks like cider r and perry, and mead, and light beers ; 1 frozen meats, and butter and cheese. 8 Few countries there are in the world which, with the exercise of judgment t and industry, can look to such fine c farming prospects as New Zealand. r But there must not be negligence in 8 seizing opportunities as just exemplified in the delay in sending fruit exhibits j to London. f