FOOD PROBLEMS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 50, 8 December 1948, Page 4

FOOD PROBLEMS

Sir, —Under' the above heading you publish a grim account of conditions in England, coupled with an appeal for more parcels by Mr K. E. Hunt. Many others speak in a similar strain, , including a high church dignitary, recently returned from a visit to England. After much consideration I am compelled to say that the parcel campaign could actually become a menace, for this reason: the only real remedy is for increased primary production, and if that took place there would be no need for the wasteful and uneconomic parcel campaign. Further, if all the appeals for parcels and the great publicity given to sincere letters of thanks from the. recipients tend to obscure that fact, and 1 believe they do, they are defeating their own ends. Grassland experts say that our stock capacity could be' doubled irl 15 years under fair economic conditions, and that would make a tremendous difference to every man, woman and child in Britain. Present statistics indicate that we are more likely to halve our production in that period than double it. For instance between April, 1945 and April, 1947 there has been a decrease in sheep of 1,290,000. Cows in milk, intended to be milked and heifers decreased by 52,500 in the same period. There were some increases in exports of lamb and beef, and further decreases in mutton, pigmeats and agricultural products. The overall picture is a sombre one and will continue as long as the Government encourages the flow of labour and capital from primary production and its many and varied ancillary industries, into uneconomic secondary ones. Let those good people who are concerned with the position overseas carefully watch, our primary production graphs and insist on measures to turn declines into ascents rather than continue to eulogise the parcel campaign and ignore the position of primary production. V. Wilkinson,