FAMINE AHEAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 145, 20 June 1940, Page 7

FAMINE AHEAD.

MILLIONS IN EUROPE. Chaotic Economic Results From War. IN OCCUPIED COUNTRIES. British Official Wireless. (Received 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, June 19. Chaotic economic conditions have resulted in all the countries in Europe which have come under Hitler's domination. In particular, the food situation has been so rudely disturbed that, in the opinion of xperts in London, millions of people will be faced with famine if the war is prolonged into the winter. This prospect must neceesarily become a factor of liret importance in the military calculations of the enemy, and evidence that Germany appreciates the. gravity of the situation is already forthcoming in the appeals made from the occupied countries for food and help from overseas neutrals. Economic experts forecast that Germany will encourage propaganda in this direction, and that appeals on humanitarian grounds will in due course be addressed, in particular, to American countries. It may toe assumed that the supplies that may be forthcoming to relieve her own responsibility to feed the countries which have come under her brutal domination would be firet drawn upon to revictual her troops and munition workers. With this prospect in view, and the likelihood that Germany will endeavour to saddle the British blockade with the responsibility, it is important to recall that, prior to the "blitzkrieg," there was no interference witn imports to neutral countries of adequate normal food supplies. No Crisis in Germany This Tear. Under present conditions these countries are likely to suffer first and most seriously. Indeed, no crisis of an alarming character is to be expected in Germany itself this yuar, although lihe eventual breakdown of its food supplies is now thought to be much nearer than was originally expected. The position in the occupied countries is already acute. In Belgium it is described as desperate, and genuine famine conditions are likely to appear within two months. There is a sharp food shortage locally in Norway, especially in towns. Similar conditions apply in Denmark, where the pig industry has been liquidated and half the cattle stock has been slaughtered. The invasion of Poland during the sowing season and the ravages of war, together with abnormal winter conditions, have had a serious effect on her food situation. Italy's Predicament. Italy is unable to help Germany, as her needs are as acute as Germany's, and conditions in Italy have deteriorated in the last ten years to a point where the ration standards are now lower than Germany's own. Regarding the possibility of imports from neighbouring neutral countries, the harvest prospects throughout Europe are only moderate, where they are not actually bad. South-Eastern Europe is unlikely to afford great help, and Russia is not supplying Germany with anything like the quantities expected. Details of the possible effect of the invasion of France are not jet obtainable, but that country is hardly selfsupporting in normal times—quite apart from the needs of an army of occupation and war ravages. The . problem is .made more difficult by the robbery of food stocks to support Germany's home needs, for in the occupied countries there is normally not enough n> go round without overseas imports. A further consideration which must be taken into account is that, even if Germany is willing to allow the dominated peoples to starve, the problems of pestilence and despairing revolt still remain.