VEGETABLE FAMINE

Southland Times, Issue 20044, 4 December 1926, Page 5

VEGETABLE FAMINE

HIGH PRICES IN SYDNEY. RESULT OF RAIN SHORTAGE. Sydney, November 18. | Vegetables are something of a dish for ' the epicure in Sydney just now. There is such a shortage of them in the metro- ! polis, consequent upon a very dry and ■ hot spring, that they are at an almost I prohibitive price for the average housej holder. In some of the country centres the late appearance of frosts has proved disastrous alike to European and Chinese j market gardeners. Early crops have been ruined. One white gardener estimates his loss at £2OOO. Ji nee the end of September less than fwo inches of rain have fallen in the metropolitan area. So far the total for November is two points. As there are no prospects of beneficial rain in the metropolis in the near future the shortage of vegetables is likely to become even greater. In spite of its vaunted resources, New South Wales seldom or never grows enough vegetables for its own use. Sydney brings onions, for example, from as far as Japan, potatoes from New Zealand, Victoria and various kinds of vegetables from Victoria and Queensland. That the premier State, containing Australia’s biggest market and the most populous metropolis in the Commonwealth, cannot grow its own vegetables in sufficient quantities to avert something of a famine certainly appears somewhat remarkable. Sydney just now is blaming the dry spell for its shortage of vegetables, but there always appears to be something of a shortage of them. The man who has given his backyard up to vegetable patches, instead of lawns and flower beds, is regarded with envy just now by his neighbour who prefers the adornments of flora to the more homely cabbages and lettuces and other vegetables.