The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 62

Products and Markets

Products and Markets.

The steady growth of these products has placed New Zealand in the proud position of being a country every member of whose population exports £15 3 s. 5 d. worth of produce. As I am speaking of New Zealand as a home for small farmers, I shall refer but briefly to some of the products of small farming, viz. dairy produce, fruit growing, bee culture and poultry rearing, as time will not permit me to do more, but a perusal of the table I have supplied of food products imported into the English markets will suggest many other directions in which the farmer's energy might be profitably devoted. The bare mention of such occupations suggests health, happiness and plenty, and this country provides what for all practical purposes is an inexhaustible market. Look at the amount this country paid for importations of these products in the year 1891, and you will then, I think, be satisfied that there is plenty of room for all New Zealand can produce, and if at the same time you realise how favourable are the conditions for the production of most of these articles, you will want nothing more to satisfy you of the glorious future in store for the Colony.

Values of the following Articles of Food imported into England during 1891.
£
Live stock 9,246,398
Bacon 6,650,324
Beef (fresh) 4,038,487
Hams 2,791,437
Meat (preserved) 1,888,067
Mutton (fresh) 3,282,001
Pork (salted and fresh) 599,657
Fish (cured or salted) 1,993,347
Butter 11,591,181
Margarine 3,558,203
Cheese 4,815,369
Eggs 3,520,918
Lard 1,720,051
Corn: Wheat 29,448,204
Flour 10,184,887
Barley 5,941,833
Oats 5,475,734
Peas 862,427
Beans 1,206,916
Indian corn 8,411,763
Potatoes 1,196,824

The following additional articles are taken from the returns of 1890.

£
Fruit: Raw:—
Nuts 600,936
Almonds 352,154
Apples 786,072
Oranges and lemons 1,756,852
Unenumerated 1,806,811
Fruit: Dried or Preserved:—
Currants 1,346,810
Baisins 1,006,898
Plums and Prunes, &c. 112,155
Figs and Fig cake 231,969
Unenumerated 397,289
Fruit: Preserved without sugar (probably canned and bottled) 269,184
Honey 41,321
Hops 877,704
Condensed milk 847,625
Nuts and kernels for oil 603,569
Nuts and kernels (not fruit) 22,000
Onions 724,020
Pickles and vegetables in salt or vinegar 133,996
Vegetables, raw, unenumerated 773,590
Poultry and game 497,857
Rabbits 398,110
Total £132,010,950