ADVANTAGES OF FOREIGN IMPORTS 103 



no more are built than are really required ; while, if a 

 man leaves a grower's employ, he has to quit the cottage 

 as well, to make way for the man who succeeds 

 him. It is a pernicious system, but the responsi- 

 bility for it should not be thrown on the market- 

 gardeners. 



In visiting West Middlesex to see the district for 

 myself, I asked one of the growers I met Mr. Robbins, 

 of the firm of Wild and Robbins, Sipson, West Drayton 

 what his views were on the subject of foreign competi- 

 tion, and his remarks thereon struck me as so practical 

 that I venture to reproduce them. He said : 



I do not think we should be able to dispose of anything like the 

 same quantity of produce we sell under present conditions if it 

 were not for the importations from other countries. We are depen- 

 dent for distribution on the retail dealers, but the retail dealers 

 require to have foreign produce to keep their shops going during 

 parts of the year when British growers are sending to market either 

 nothing at all or very little. Forty or fifty years ago these retail 

 dealers were comparatively few in number, and in the month of 

 March, for instance, they had very little to show in their windows. 

 To-day the number of retailers has enormously increased as you 

 see, no matter into what town you go and there is always plenty 

 of attractive produce for them in the way of stock. This is due in 

 no small degree to the foreigner, without whom, in fact, the retailer 

 could not live. Stop the imports of foreign fruit and vegetables, and 

 within twelve months 75 per cent, of the fruiterers and greengrocers 

 in the country would be bankrupt. 



The foreign supplies have the further advantage of getting 

 people into the habit of eating fruit and vegetables all the year 

 round, and we have the benefit of this as soon as our own supplies 

 are ready. In the summer months, of course, when we are pro- 

 ducing in abundance, we feel that we would rather do without the 

 foreigner. But there, again, if the foreign imports were not forth- 

 coming, to keep prices at a reasonable level, there would be 

 attempts to corner the market, and the rise in prices might choke 

 the demand, in which case we should be no better off than we 

 were before. 



In Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire there is a 

 stretch of country, about fifteen miles long and four 

 or five broad, with Biggleswade and Sandy as centre 



