542 



New Zealand Frozen Meat. 



entitled Let us Grow Fruit, have been distributed throughout 

 the country. 



Up to the present time the Department has mainly confined 

 its attention to efforts to improve the cultivation of fruit, but 

 something has also been done to instruct the growers as to the 

 most profitable methods of marketing their produce. Growers 

 have been encouraged to exhibit at local and international 

 shows, co-operative fruit marketing societies have been estab- 

 lished, and grants are given to assist basket-making for the 

 transport of fruit. The Hungarian Consuls abroad are 

 directed to furnish periodical reports on the fruit trade of 

 Russia, Germany, Great Britain, and Scandinavia, and the 

 Department is thus enabled to advise the growers concerning 

 the most profitable markets for their produce. Assistance is 

 also given by a reduction in the railway rates for fruit and 

 vegetables, and a pamphlet with information as to the best 

 methods of packing fruit has been issued. The Department of 

 Commerce has established courses of instruction in basket- 

 making, and the Department of Agriculture has started planta- 

 tions to grow the raw material ; parishes are encouraged by 

 grants to start basket-making industries, which give employment 

 to the agricultural labourers in the winter. Forty-one plantations 

 of willows have been established, and the number of plants has 

 been increased by more than fifteen millions in the last six 

 years. 



The Department also assists the dried fruit industry and 

 cider making, by leasing the necessary machines to parishes, 

 associations, and co-operative societies, and in certain special 

 cases gives them free. Last year two large fruit and jam 

 factories were established with the aid of grants from the 

 Departments of Agriculture and Commerce. 



New Zealand Frozen Meat Trade. 



The Board have received a copy of a Report by the " Exten- 

 sion of Commerce Committee " of the New Zealand House of 

 Representatives on the frozen meat trade of the Colony. 

 The Committee considered the following questions : — 

 (a) Whether New Zealand is in a position to increase her 



