EASTERN MARKETS

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3482, 21 June 1934, Page 5

EASTERN MARKETS

PROSPECTS IN SOUTHERN

INDIA

INFORMATIVE DETAILS ARRIVE

Our readers will remember that about three months ago we published an article under the caption "Where is Madras " bearing on the possibility of developing a market fan. New Zealand produce, such as butter ana cheese, in Southern India, and we went on to comment upon a paragraph in the Madras Mail wherein Te Awamutu wa s referred to as the great dairying district of the Dominion, and the reliance to be placed on butter from this part of the world. Then the hope was expressed that a regular and growing trade might be developed, not only for our butter, but also for ghee, a preparation c± clarified butter largely used by the masses. The hope was expressed that the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board would interest ijtself on behalt of the producers sufficiently to investigate the potential market. Mrs Hunter, ojf " Momington, Te Awamutu, very kindly posted a copy of the Waipa Post, containing the artic£ to hes brother, Mr R W. Manson, a former Postmaster-General of Madras Presidency, who had visited the Dominion in 1931 for some months, and has since returned to Southern India. Mi's Hunter asked her brother to give us some indication of the prospects there for New Zealand produce, and by the latest mail to hand Mr Manson has very kindly supplied enough details to justify prosecution of further inquiries with a view to taking the course we suggested. We make the following interesting extracts from Mr Manson's letter, dated May 9th:— " India ils rightly supposed to be a poor country, so far as the bulk of the population is concerned, and the people are not consumers of foreign food products to any great extent, since the three hundred million agriculturists of the country areable to supply their own wants in this direction. The majority, however, being Megetarians (the Hindus), use butter and ghee for cooking, as it i\s contrary to their religion to eat lard and fat with their food. " Cattle are reared in most districts, but, owing to poor fodder, the milk and butter supply is deficient, and a good deal of adulteration of ghee takes place, to the detriment of the health of the people. Even the well-to-do natives find it difficult to satisfy their; wants, owing to the scarcity of the commodity, especially during the (Six or seven months of the dry season. The substitution of cocoanut butter for the dairy product has not met with much success amiong these conservative peoples. ' "The masses, being mostly illiterate, are difficult to get at by ordinary publicjtyi methods, and commercial travellers from abroad who tour the Indian citiefc to establish agencies for their mlanufactuires and products, do not make much headway in the interior. Cold storage facilities, which are essential during the summer months, are available only in a few centres, chiefly the seaports, but such conveniences are being gradually introduced. Such installations are, however, net needed for ghee, or clarified butter, which is not affected by the hot climate, if protected in sealed tins." , Mr Manson goes on to refer to the opportunities for developing a desire for butter or imported ghee among the wealthier classes of Indians in th e interior of the country. He says the consumption of good imported ghee could be greatly increased; and the Inr dians are well able to pay a reasonable price for this commodity. Ghee is at present being imported, in kerofsene tins, into Bombay fftoni the Kenya Colony and East Africa, and he maintains that if it is possible for those countries, where butter L fat production by no means measures up to the butter-fat production of New Zealand, for instance, the latter country could assuredly market this commodity in India. It should be put up in more attractive containers than kerosene tins, preferably in smaller sizes, and with an assurance that the actual product has not been handled from the churn to the sealed tin.. We gathered that the Indians have a decided ant'pathy to animal fats that have been handled. With the present modern methods employed in New Zealand's dairy factories an article that would be bound to find favour with the Indians could be manufactured and marketed. The writer illustrates his po,int by mentioning that the Imperial Tobacco Cc, some years ago started a propaganda in the interior of India, where many millions of people' were in the habit >of smoking coarse tobacco rolled in dried leaves of the banyan and peepul tree. The company substituted a cheap cigarette, made in a local factory with homegrown tobacco, which was a great improvement on the hand-made "beedees." Samples of the company's cgarettes of various bfiandj?, such as

" Scissors," and other varieties, were given away by a travelling agent, who toured the country in motor caravan loaded with small packets, which were sold for 3d each. The packets each contained ten cigarettes. The result was that noxious weed smoking by the imasses is now a thing of the past. Our informant added that this kind of effort might with advantage be made by the New Zealand butter industry, if India is to be exploited on a large scale, in connection with ghee, as well as butter. It should be observed that one essential is that a .travelling agent should know the country and its languages, and should be able to work under its climatic conditions, picking out the right type of local agents to market the stocks, which would be supplied to him later on at regular 1 intervals. To isend a man from New * Zealand as travelling agent was not recommended, the advantages of choosing someone familiar; with the many facts of Indian conditions being obvious. Organisations seeking to interest the imasser, would be well advised to prepare attractive placard)* and illustrated pataphlets, with names, and brjtef but apt slogans for the various pboducts. These would form an essential part of propaganda work, and need not be expensive. Such a high percentage of illiteracy necessitates the use of placards instead of solid reading matter. Mir Mans on /mentioned that, the cities and large towns might also be can-

vassed by the 1 methods adopted by commercial travellers from Europe during their cold-weather trips to India. Referring more particularly to Other products of New Zealand dairymen, Mr Manson states: "In addition to butter and ghee, there would be a prospect of establishing a market for canned milk, and milk powders, if purity can be guaranteed and price a compared favourably with those quoted for ' Ideal Milk,' ' Glaxo,' and other imported European products." W'hile in New Zealand in 1931, Mr Manson devoted quite a lot of his holiday to investigating the dairying industry here, and he left the impression that he was a shrewd observer. Interviewed here, he said New Zealand produce was little known in India-, and particularly was this so in Southern India. He had lived practically all his life in India, and had travelled extensively there, and also in East Africa, familiarising himself with every possible aspect of conditions. His position in the Indian post and telegraph service (he became Postmaster-General) and the fact that he was a baivister-at-law, and a G.I.E. (Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire) are indicative of the worth of his recommendations and observations.

The many friends and acquaintances he made while sojourning in Zealand will be pleased at his further evidence of interest in the welfare commercially of this portion of the British Empire.