TOACCO GROWING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15262, 28 March 1913, Page 10

TOACCO GROWING.

yS^ Y >^.v : "-' ■ • *''".'•• '^'\ I A NEW iIIOUSTRY. i Jte?'^^"* y;fc '.> *-a P*2 :.♦- •>:•«. '.&<?* v 4> ' :'./* v ..•■•* W-"- >. J 'tfe?'- ■$&"' :N ; / ' ' #£' «sn» ■;■■!. :"._ £ '.'- •1 , • .'"• ' >•. j IrOCAL AND Ot WeAS TRADE. J *v: .' A- . ■■; ; Sffta twenty odd year* * «flpc» an attempt *»« i tmMe to develop th« t. ibacoo industry in | rJNe* Zealand and for a v*tula .iU»e seemed i • V #re«f promise thafcmieoeftfyl wants t b*Stfo. It was found that ,** oxo©U«ati^f I could be grown. It was shot, <*** I could be raised, and there I doubt thai even in this coun *ry j was an extK»sive market j ' tared product, yet fo * 'TJT | ; various reasons the attempt i *TZ a 8 never ) An a matter of fact the sub* ® * i very seriously considered, norW**^*^^ I thing like enough public interest \ 3 venture. New «* * ■ n*^*|WW; J position today to develop « tobtog® li try' than ever it was before. w { if greater local markets, a greater n I skilled culturiats, and of course c *** 1 kets are larger now than ttey were j- yean ago. Is it possible th.it we cou * establish this industry on a successfu. V <**» I', naiwcial'eeale? :.v Sumatra tobacco u *® On the island of Sumatra tobacco cu. U &*• * baa been reduced to a science, beiiy ■ <»>>- *- 'trolled mainly by a few Etteh ********; « Ut largest of them u» the fiimoua Deli C»i ® % mdt. which now produces 60,000 bales ot j 2l«b each yearly, almost one-fourth of the j J , entire Hmnatran crop. The average dmd« irV «ads paid to its shareholders have been over J 75 per cent, annually since :CBBO, and in 1885 ?f it paid a dividend of 100 per oent d with a capital of £30,000 in 1069, m 1904 its . u capital was £400,000, with a wserve- fund [l' of £500,000— paying the enormous f; dividends alluded to. In the course of the I first twenty-four crop years the company jlf delivered to the Amsterdata market a total 3 «| W,«l balsa* * raloa «f «wer ! : delivered to the l 'w6idi 'a clear profit total <£494,481 balsa, representee valaeofover £10,600,000 —upon. which a dear profit was .•;:agde',and paid to shareholders of nearly f £3,00a00a I '"■This is • merely one inatwioe of the rapid ' ufcrides the tobacco culture has been making Md of the huge 'profits which can be obi tained by the application -of intelligence, d % brains and energy. In tlie face of these q- facia is New: Zealand to v remain indifferent if while other oountriaa are untiring « their §• efforts to extend and develop this most | . profitable of all industriMrf It is the f greatest of all revenue producers. 3.. Suitable Land and Climate. i : a There u Lardbr » «mn4ry fa. the. world, fwhoee soil ! and dimatio oondifaone permit i >'< of the successful growing of; tobacco, which | Ml not established this' industry long ago. j - Rpm it» birtfcpleeb, Ameiice, tho tobacoo 3 culture ha* extended to;<W quarter of I :*% :^ws^bhsir' ' and, like' ita nert kin, the Irish 1 rrit**** i* baa made the -conquest of the 4 nif» 1k 'Mwr Mud aa»-J« not to--3 epended to the call, and yet what a future I W iitin store for her if she would only make 1 ••'• a start, even at, each a Isto hour. - The t'& latitude of the * North Island corresponds 1 with that of Virginia and Carolina, of ! Geeeost' and - Turkey, faaaous for their : excel-, ' :- w tobeooca, and experimenta recently 1 mrried out by an m m nataral condl- - puiiawniri*, nitwri - condi- ' tions necessary for growing those typ«e of •;[*&' equal quality. Large are» aire avail- : able in the North Island ik* Oat purpose, , «kd even tboeo pert* ■ consisting •; ol ' wry, , light - soil could all he transformed from c ; regions of cojaparative pcveity to regions *:: ol jwedtibr throngh the luccessful culture ' of tobacco. f l%» < , - , I , the ' Grower. ' But the industry mart bo started in r> » . sijAsjMantin »ani*; hot everythiag must M be" left .to piriVatk enterprfae.- Out farmeta ig: os&bot affdrd to ejeperiment, and : we"' must' i not expect them to embsidt upon a new >* P'i industry without a : oertai s I guarantee that; jj they wffl fsft paid for libnar labour and \ trouble in <i» end. If a farmer raises an i ' '.'1 oat /crop or a potato erojt, he known that 3 Q: he will realise the cmril** market price for his produce. But what is bo to do I with a tnhaceo onft for. which no 'local market iM;':be4a:' estahtirfied yetf All : pooU be uncertainty. ' ' v It .is evident that some encouragement - [ % most .bo given to the grower; ho must be a '"-'able to get advioe and assistance in all makers ecsmarnitg this industry and there the lead. . A pepper otgaaisateon w required, without wtoeh m enrisss mar ba 4 boned lor. And such gasag 1 ot£j be Other industries, bka ixariiiaolture and niiculture, -bare at ell timsa bad' toe supV 'WhuAvAjiday. ioi: ' miee I "lninnrfsif —rmfrr 'than ; Very) be'"«wiin^ 1 / : spent .ett'. •osehesi ; and beatdee it would msan a. ts«ap«»My assutaaoa rj only, as a.' tobaoeo farmt oould be made: 5 selfenpparting in two time. *■ IfTHb» waoorcea of this country are to A be: farther developed . tofaaooo ; 4ndMtey;_ '| % cannot.; be treated Bostsnptj lit has been of immense impcrtatKW to other £ ; countries, tnd it may, some day, become H• «i gseidissr;impoiitßß^ to ua. ■ ■■, . '■' •• ;« VI tka tame psport tobecoo/ K - in : i .the'fmsiiwacfeued: artide," 2 ; no news why we. should not secure the '? i bulk of'this: trade foe ocnehos. Besides ■9 tfcis, there ens; the infbHito paesibUitiee of d : 1 'the world's markets open to u«, -and jt H enly requiree the exerriee of skiH and St labour '■ in ' the - production of higb-elsas . tor at bacooa to e»sbSrwi>flt»d » sale for our ■• -j? surplus supplies overseas. v ;' q Gum Laidk SiaitaUe. b pj " The old idea that tobacco required rich, W /^; : deep aßuvial 'or ■ forest iioil has long ago dp?: been dissipated. Tobaooo can be grown of i: %.£ the highest qualify oo light and medium 2 soils. The gum > lands of - the North > Auckif •' land district - have been ]?roved to produce | ■■■-■•"a high-olass leaf, and it should be possible M for th« numerous small settlers Who are H : taking up this clase - country to , make J tobacco-growing . help r tiiom to win peen-. nMi niary " success in the early, stag* Of- farm- " 1. ing. .Thoee who have taken tip small areas ' '•;••• with tho idea of starting - fruit-farming aire of often severely handicapped during the first U -;' few years ' because th«r have been unable on' to raise «ny sufficiently . valuable crop to b; repay them for their labour. ■An aero or ; two of < tobocoo would • enable this else* of J K:' farmer' to live until his- trees came into d, bearing. Tobacco-growing, ; however, should [ prove beneficial to neatly all oUeeas of d:'i farmers, and might be made to add conti sideraUy to the nation's source of wealth t, and to - the:/ profitable " industries of ' the 3 V cities. It is to be hoped that the AgricalLi : tural Department and the Government of « . this country will make a special effort to H ' place this promising industry -on a, sound * footing. If they give it only a small proportion of the . assistance which has been rendered to the dairying . industry in the : pest with such marked success, :it is almost : , certain that we can profitably utilise a very large area of land now producing little or 1 nothing, ° and we can give :an opening for v money-making to hundreds of men who - could not easily make their small holdings pay in any other way. I .. ' ..