NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22300, 24 December 1935, Page 14

NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE

METHODS OF MARKETING NORTHOOrl r ENGLAND DEMAND GROWTH IN RECENT YEARS The great changes that hare been made in the marketing of New Zealand produce in tho Midlands and North of England were commented on yesterday by Captain W. J. Wade, who has been for tho past 13 years representative in New Zealand and Australia of the Manchester Ship Canal Company. Captain Wade is in Auckland on his way to Australia after a business trip to England. Prior to taking up his present position he was for 15 years superintendent of the Manchester Municipal Markets Department, which controls tho supply of meat, produce and fruit to some millions of consumers, and during tho war was Chief Assistant Director of Cold Storage and Inland Food Transport. "Until seven or eight years ago," Captain Wado said, "New Zealand dairy produce was seldom displayed or obtainable in the markets or shops in the greater Manchester area, but as the result of persistent and successful propaganda directed by the various ex* port boards and other organisations periodical displays have been arranged in many retail shops in tho area and traders are regularly called on for orders. This has resulted in regular and increasing demands for New Zealand produce, and it is now regularly displayed in all the best shops throughout tho Midlands and North of England." Direct Shipments Increase "This in turn has resulted in many importers and distributors who operato in the North and Midlands ordering direct; shipment of their requirements to adjacent ports, and although until live or six years ago not more than 6 per cent of'the total British imports of dairy produce from New Zealand was shipped to West Coast ports, tho quantity has steadily grown until last year nearly £6 per cent of a much larger total shipped was landed at tho ports of Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Bristol." Last year, stated Captain Wade, 11,021 tons of butter, 5463 tons of cheese, 3568 tons of meat, 2074 tons of fruit, besides general cargo, was shipped direct from New Zealand to Manchester. The latter is in the centre of the most densely populated industrial area in the world, the population within 75 miles radius being about the same as within a similar radius of London. Great Purchasing Power How great was the scope for still further direct trade might be gauged from the fact that it was estimated that 1850 tons of butter, 740 tons of cheese, 3080 tons of frozen and chilled meat, and 2500 tons of apples were consumed each week in the area within 50 miles around Manchester.. "As regards purchasing power," Captain Wade said, "it might be thought because certain branches of the Lancashire cotton trade are having a rather difficult time that Manchester and the surrounding area are in the doldrums. As a matter of fact, however, when one door closes another opens. "As an illustration of this, it may be mentioned that trade in other directions has x-apidly increased, and over 130,000 people are at present employed in the engineering industry alone within seven miles of Manchester City Hall, and there is hardly an industry that is not located in the greater Manchester area and for the most part fairly busy."