WHAT DOMINION EATS

Taranaki Daily News, 20 January 1933, Page 12

WHAT DOMINION EATS

NEW ZEALAND PRODUCTS. A STUDY IN PROPORTIONS. Wellington, Jan. 17. With schemes in the air fpr levies on some classes of New Zealand production, with the object of securing higher local prices which will serve as an export bonus, an examination of the proportion of New Zealand production which finds its way into the local market becomes unusually important. - This survey is made accurately in the New Zealand Year Book which has just been published, and the figures vividly demonstrate the comparative unimportance of local sales, though some of the local consumption figures, when separated from those of export, look impressive. ; For instance, New Zealanders consume nearly 401 b. of butter per head each year, though cheese, not being regarded as an article of staple, diet, as it is in some countries, only finds a. local consumption of 7.431 b.. per. head. Beef finds its best support locally, with a consumption per head of 146.281 b., and more than half the pork raised is consumed within the Dominion. The fruit diet of New Zealanders is strangely small in respect to its own production, being 27.601 b. per head of apples and 6.681 b. per head of pears, though the consumption of imported fruits includes bananas 13.851 b. per head, and oranges 10.971 b. per head. The gross production of the Dominion has been calculated, and the percentages ascertained of local consumption, and of export, with the following results:—

Wool, so important an item of production, does not come into this table, but similar facts relating to it are available in another part of the volume. Wool production in 1932 w-.s estimated to have exceeded 282,000,0001 b., and with the exception of between 6,000.0001 b. and 7,000,0001 b., the whole of it was exported.

Butter Cheese ... Beef Used Locally. Exported. ... 23;3 ... 5.4 ... 83.8 .76.7 94.6 16.2 Mutton ... 47.4 52,6 Lamb ... 3.4 96.6 Pork ... 54.3 45.7 Bacon and ham . ... 98.2 1.8