GREAT POSSIBILITIES.

Colonist, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11686, 23 July 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

GREAT POSSIBILITIES.

("The Colonist,'* July 17.)

The fact that Now Zealand apples were shown at the Royal Horticultural Society's exhibition in London laat monfeh, and that the display was declared by the "London Times" to be a very fine one, indicates that 'with care in growing, gradim:, packing, and carriage a very considerable trade in this fruit may b established. As we have pro piously pointed oat, there is no part of the Colon} so eminently adapted to the growth of apples for export?! ion a 9 the Nelson district, but, so far, an export trade is out of the question, inasmuoh as transhipments v\ould not only add so considerably ';a the cost of transport as to leave little prospect of remunerative returns, but would greatly endanger the arrival of the fruit at English ports in good condition. The Moutere hills, or considerable portions of them, have been proved to be well adapted to the production of well colored apples of better keeping qualities than those grown on the richer flats, and many of the valleys, especially those of the Motueka and its tributaries, in which the winters are more severe than in the city, and where the trees would have a longer test in winter, are capable of producing immense quantities of good fruit, Up till now the lack of assurance that the fruit could be exported at a profit has prevented the extension of a promising industry, for the fear has been entertained that the colonial market would be over supplied, and the outlay "and the labor of several seasons rendered unproductive. At the prices which apples command during the winter months there should, however, be money in apple growing and with an export market O3tabished there is no doubD the industry would assume very large proportions.

With the completion of the new entrance to Nelson Harbor wo have assuiances that, providing a reasonable amount of support is assured, direct steamers will make Nelson a port of call, and on their doing so the disadvantage which at present exists will disappear. It will then be possible to ship locally, thereby saving the freight, wharfage, and cost ©f handling incidental to transhipment at another port, and also obviating the additional risk of damage by more handling, and Nelson should then be able to export apples quite as cheaply and easily as Hobart can do at the present time. The harbor works have progressed less expeditiously than we had hoped, but at the present time the new channel is materially deeper than the old one. The cut through the Boulder Bank was dredged, for a width of '200 feet, to a depth of fifteen feet, but the scour has increased the depth, we are informed, to twenty feet at low water, giving thirty-two feet at high tide. The cut has not yet been continued, be yond the bank into deep water, but that is only a question of timo, and the shallowest; depth now between deep water and the new entrance is said to be twelve feet at low water, or twenty feet at high tide. A bank within the harbor was an obstruction to the coarse vessels would need to take in passing between the new entrance and the wharves, acd there was only eighteen inches of water on this bank at low tide, but sin-jo the new cut has been made through tbe Boulder Bank this shoal is being scoured away. It was reported at last meeting of the Harbor Board that there was then six and a half feet where there had previously been only eighteen inches, and we are tola that the depth at that point has now increased to eight feet, or twenty feet at high water. All this points to the harbor being very soon available for the entrance of ocean steamers, provided that the works are carried out with due sk ; 11, and it is perhaps at this time that the most skill is needed. However, the outlook is hopeful, and the creation of an export trade in apples, and the saving to the farmers, and the consumers also, of transhipmentfefaarges must prove a great boon, and give encouragement to further productions calculated to add materially to the prosperity of the district.