WEALTH OF FOODSTUFFS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20924, 14 July 1931, Page 10

WEALTH OF FOODSTUFFS.

NEW ZEALAND PRODUCTS. DUTY OF HOUSEWIVES. DRIED AND PRESERVED FRUIT. PURCHASES AND EMPLOYMENT. No. 11. In encouraging producers to increase their output of New Zealand foodstuffs the housewives of the Dominion can play perhaps the major part. It is the housewives • who stock tho kitchen cupboards and who, therefore, wield a tremendous power. If they once make it plain to their grocer that he must give thorn New Zealand goods ho will do so, for ho knows that ho must supply tho demand or go out of business.

Every woman who buys a New Zealand article is helping to keep a New Zealand man or woman in employment, and if tho women of the Dominion will realise that fact and act upon it many problems will bo solved. A glance at many kitchen cupboards to-day would not be encouraging. It would reveal an array of bottles and tins with labels proclaiming their overseas origin. Excellent products no doubt, some of them, but not one whit better than those which can be, and probably are, produced in New Zealand. Many of them would be of a quality inferior to

that of the New Zealand article. Among the assortment one might see jam, tinned and bottled fruit, pickles and sauce, vinegar, biscuits, preserved fish from such places as Portugal, tinned meat, dried apples and tinned tomatoes, peas or asparagus, most of which already are produced in New Zealand., and in a firstgrade quality. Co-operation of Shopkeepers.

Why the housewife should choose to

buy these things from overseas % competitors and thus deprive her countrymen of a living would be a baffling problem were it not known that the shopkeeper himself is not always blameless, in that he fails often to give clue prominence to the New Zealand article. Fortunately there is another side to the picture. One knows the grocer who champions the New Zealand product and who places it in the forefront of his shelves; and who, moreover, has found in his experience that there is a definite swing toward the purchase of New Zealand goods, or, where they are not obtainable, toward Empire goods—Australian dried fruit for example. It is here that the shopkeeper has a duty to perform in co-operating with the housewife, for he knows better than she does what the resources of the New Zealand manufacturers and packers are. Ifc is his business to know that, and it is in his own financial interests to pass that information on, for he, too, depends upon the prosperity of the country for his living. Yet the fact remains that in great part the public is in ignorance of the astonishing range of foodstuffs packed in New Zealand. One has only to visit an exhibition or show to hear the exclamations of surprise which the exhibits evoke. " I did not know that was made in New Zealand," is a typical cry. One should make it one's business to know—and then to buy. Encouragement Imperative.

In 1930 a total of £23,874 was sent overseas by New Zealanders to purchase dried apples and apricots, yet there is a New Zealand-grown and dried apple on the market. No better apricots can be procured than those which grow in Otago, yet the New Zealander sends to South Africa for his dried apricots. It is not suggested that every sort of dried fruit is, or can bo, produced in New Zealand, but unless the packer is encouraged by the sale of the products he has already placed on the market he is not in a position to experiment toward increasing his range. The more the housewife spends now upon the New Zealand-grown and packed foodstuffs available the greater will be the range presented for her choice in the future.

Fresh and dried fruits bulk largely in (he list of New Zealand importations. In 1930 raisins constituted the largest item under this head and were represented by £149,423. In 1929 the figure was £185,173.

Reliable opinion states that although excellent grapes are grown in New Zealand, the climate of tho Dominion militates against the successful sun-drying of the fruit to produce raisins. But opinion is not dogmatic on the point. It is pointed out that there is such a thing as artificial drying, which is resorted to in some raisin-producing countries when the season is not normal. Problems Worthy of Attention. A largo amount of sunshine and a dry, atmosphere are necessary for,tho production of a grape of high sugar content suitable for raisins,- whereas the grapes at present produced in New Zealand are of a low sugar content, which renders them, nevertheless, particularly suitable for the manufacture of a high-grade light wine. But again opinion is not dogmatic as to the possibilities awaiting an investigation into the successful production of raisins in New Zealand.

The figures for other dried fruits imported last year are as follows Currants, £33,646; figs, £11,994; prunes, £30,257; other sorts, £7476. The amount of sunshine which New Zealand enjoys is almost proverbial and in Central Otago is an area of dry atmosphere which might well repay some form of experiment in fruit-drying on a commercial scale. As tho figures show, the trade is a substantial ono and one well worth securing, if only in part. Since Otago produces apricots of a high quality, a start might" be made with drying apricots. Already some housewives dry their own and experiments should determine tho practicability of drying them commercially. Until the problem is tackled the possibilities cannot be known. Fruit Packed in Dominion. The housewife might plead justification at present for purchasing raisins from overseas, but sho has no excuse for buying bottled and preserved fruit from other countries. Yet the money she spent last year in this way totalled £129.023, compared with £147,526 in 1929. This is an appalling stale of affairs in a country which grows in abundance and to perfection fruit of all varieties and in which, failing her ability or inclination to preserve her own, tho housewife can buy the product prepared by New Zealand packers. The varieties of tinned and bottled fruit prepared in New Zealand aro diverse enough to meet any demand. Most of tho fruit is growij in this country, but in some cases, to meet particular requirements of tho preserving process, recourse has been had to Australian fruit. This procedure at least has the merit of fostering Empire industries, but there is no reason why the type of fruit required should not be produced in New Zealand. This fact is recognised readily enough by those engaged in tho packing industry and they havo shown a commendable enterpriso in planting orchards to meet their requirements. This evidence of practical patriotism is an example to tho purchasing public, who fail in their duty and discourage the employment of New Zealanders if they do not co-operato by buying the goods so produced.