The Bay of Plenty Times SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1946. FOOD CRISIS IN GERMANY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 14211, 9 November 1946, Page 2

The Bay of Plenty Times SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1946. FOOD CRISIS IN GERMANY

Judging by reports from the British zone of Germany the present food crisis there must be as acute or even more acute than at any time since the end of hostilities, and it is obvious that the authorities controlling the area are just about at their wits' end to know how to deal with it. Just how serious is the position is summed up by the Minister responsible for the zone when he states that there have been similar crises in the past but the means by which they have been relieved have been exhausted. He also stated that the. present stocks would be sufficient to keep up the present ration for no more than another week.

It is apparent that he crisis has been aggravated, as the Archbishop of York has pointed out, by the non-arrival of food expected from America, and there will be full agreement with him when lie states that America could and should do more. It is also quite obvious that Britain can do no more than she has already clone for this would result in only one thing, a further reduction in the food ration in Britain which cannot be allowed. In the words of the head of the economic office in the British zone, a German, by the way, "It must be recognised that Britain has saved our population from death throughout this year by food deliveries." With all the varied acivities to meet the world food shortage, it must be remembered that Britain has gladly associated herself, because she has at all times believed that problems so # pressing can only be solved by the most drastic international action. But she has,done much more than that. Since the end of the war she has imposed new series of cuts in her own rations, which were never plentiful, so that additional supplies of food could be sent to needy countries. Indeed, the sacrifices of the British people have not always been fully realised by the rest of the world. They have foregone thousands of tons of wheat to release supplies for consumption elsewhere; they have waived all rights to imports of rice; they have raised the extraction rate of flour from 80 to 90 per cent, which means a heavy reduction in the amount of feeding stuffs available for livestock which must of course, result in a grave falling off in production of milk, eggs and bacon; and most drastic of all, the rationing of bread and flour was introduced—a step never taken even during the darkest days of the war. When it is remembered that Britain has been rationed for over six and a-half years and might now have reasonably expected some reduction in the austerity of her diet rather than the reverse, the commitments she has made in the common cause will be seen to compare favourably with those of other nations. She has played her part and played it nobly. She cannot do more.