NEGLECTED WEALTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20930, 21 July 1931, Page 10

NEGLECTED WEALTH.

UNNECESSARY IMPORTS. £IOO,OOO A YEAR FOR NUTS. SCOPE FOR ALMOND GROWING. SALT, MUSTARD AND ONIONS. Ko. VIII. , ' It is almost impossible to exhaust the list of food products which arc imported into New Zealand, but which are already produced here or capable of being pro duced. It is true that in many cases research may be necessary to establish the practicability of producing certain commodities, but that very fact demands that research shall be put in hand with the least possible delay. Apathy in the matter will get the country nowhere. The money spent each year on certain items of importation is larger than ono would imagine. In many cases it is positively startling. For instance, in 1930, £107,002 was spent on edible nuts from overseas. Of this amount £34,770 was paid for almonds alone. Salt importations were valued at £98,545; mustard, £28,715; onions, £22,380; beans and peas, £10,257; biscuits, other than ship's plain, £5804; and potatoes, £2066. Products of Almond Tree. Of the large expenditure on nuts a great share could bo kept within the Dominion. The £34,770 spent on almonds (in 1929 the figure was £50,608) is a positive gift to overseas competitors,, since almond trees flourish throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand. There is obviously a market for almonds produced on a commercial scale, and it is amazing that New Zealanders should have neglected it for so long. Apart from the us© of the nut as a food, almonds produce medicinal and other oils and are used in the preparation of cosmetics. Almond orchards might well be established in the Thames district, where apricots and other stono fruits thrive so well. Their treatment is similar to that of the peach and nectarine. Here, too, prune plums might be grown, since the trade in prunes from overseas is a substantial one that would repay internal exploitation, Prunes imported last year were valued at £30,257. Of the many other varieties of edible nuts, walnuts, filberts and peanuts are found to flourish in New Zealand soils. In the case of walnuts, it is stated that little headway has been made so far, as those who grow them are content with any kind of tree. In countries where they are grown commercially three or four named varieties of tree are selected and cultivated. The growers, therefore, have some assurance and foreknowledge of a definito crop. What others can do New Zealand can do. Nuts in Confectionery.

Nuts of many varieties are used extensively in the manufacture of confectionery, and in tho making of sweets New Zealand has at its command the best of butter and honey, produced locally, and the best of British cane sugar, grown in Fiji. . It would be a logical process to include New Zealand grown nuts. For many months of the year New Zealand is dependent very largely upon other countries for its supplies of onions. A determined effort should be made to rectify this position. Pukekohe and Canterbury. supplies as a rule ore suf-' ficient to meet the demand from the end of December to the end of May, after which onions are imported in turn from Australia, Japan, California and Canada. There are several strains of long-keep-ing onions which it is thought might be cultivated further at Pukekohe, in an effort to maintain the local supply. • The keeping qualities of onions depend very largely on the season experienced. There is always the risk of deterioration and of loss of weight through evaporation. What is needed is a definite line of experiment aimed at preserving to New Zealand as. much as possible of the £22,000 a year now spent on overseas onions. Manufacture of Salt. The astonishing amount spent_ each year on imported salt—the £.98,545 of 1930 was eclipsed in 1929, when the expenditure was £102,067 —should have demanded attention years ago. Only a proportion of the salt imported is used directly as a food, since it is a product that has a wide commercial use. In addition to its use in the meat-packing, fish-curing and pickle industries, it is used in the curing of hides, in refrigerating, in the glass and soap industries and glaze and enamel trades. -t Tho most apparent means of producing salt is by evaporation of sea water, and not even the most pessimistic critic could deny New Zealand's resources in this direction. In England, from which country comes most of New Zealand's salt, in Germany and parts of the United States, where it is impracticable to manufacture salt by solar heat, • the brines are concentrated by means of artificial heat. Steam is the heating agent used, the salt being deposited in special receptacles. With efficient modern machinery tho consumption of one ton of coal results in the production of from five to six tons of salt.

In some parts of England, where underground salt beds are found, fresh water is allowed to run down boreholes and remain there until it is saturated with salt. It is then pumped up and crystallised in the same manner as natural brine. Unlimited Supply of Brine. Whether or not salt beds exisit in New Zealand, there is an unlimited supply of natural brine, and there is no reason apparent why * this should not be exploited, and £IOO,OOO a year saved to the country. Mustard is another commodity which appears to offer itself for exploitation in New Zealand. It is grown and prepared in England, and that fact suggests that Now Zealand soils and climate also would bo suitable. The saving to be gained is larger than anticipated, for tho importations for 1930 show tho surprising figure of £28,716. In 1929 the value of mustard importations was £30,749. Tho ability of New Zealanders to bring to a satisfactory conclusion any tjisk to which they set their hands has been proved again and again. This most important of all tasks, the advancement of their country's prosperity by the, ready support of its primary and secondary industries, is one of the easiest to fulfil. Specifying a New Zoaland product does not call for strenuous endeavour on the >part of the purchaser; neither does it call for self-denial. Even if it called for both, tho price would bo repaid a hundredfold.