N. I. Passionfruit

——— New Zealand Gets the Trade ... ———

From Our Own Correspondent ... ——— NORFOLK IS., November 28.

THIS time last year we were advertising the size and quality of our passionfruit crop and asking for buyers on a large scale.

A great amount of interest was aroused and, in response to particular requests, we shipped away for analyses to different firms, samples of our home treated pulp.

The resultant reports were more than favourable and, while we did nothing particular with that season’s crop, this oncoming season should be most profitable.

Either as pulp or still within its egg shaped shell, most of the fruit seems likely to be consigned to one live company in Auckland who have oversea orders to fill and are preparing to take all that we can possibly let them have.

It may be shipped for treatment over there, or they may establish a hasty plant actually upon the island and treat it according to their own formula.

In any case we are being asked not to destroy any of our vines, and it seems certain that on our own tables this year passion fruit will appear as a luxury instead of as a common filling

for tarts, flavouring for fruit salads,

and as wine.

EDITORIAL NOTE. —Here is another example of how enterprising New Zealand “puts it all over” sleepy Australia. This journal, a year ago. gave wide publicity to the remarkable opportunity which Norfolk Island’s generous crop of passion fruit offered to a wideawake canner. As a result, half-a-dozen people and firms made inquries—some eagerly —but, one by one, they faded out of the picture. No reason was given—they simply did not have enough energy to go on with the project. But an Auckland firm has seen the opportunity—and a valuable bit of trade from Norfolk Island, like the trade of Fiji, Tonga and various other Islands territories, has been taken from under Australia’s nose by the alert merchants of our sister Dominion. Australia likes to blame its Bolshies and politicians for its pitiful economic condition, but a large proportion of its merchants have not enough “pep” to get out of their own way. ===