ECONOMICS OF WAR.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16212, 15 May 1918, Page 10

ECONOMICS OF WAR.

THE PREMIER AND POTATO!*

(FROM OCR OWN IOURESrONDEST.)

LONDON, March 21

Mr Lloyd George is desirous of impressing upon all farmers and small growors tho vital importance ol increasing to the utmost extent possible tho supply of potatoes this year. There is 110 crop, under existing -,var conditions, ■which can compare with it in imjiort- j ance as a food for either man or beast, and it -will be quite impossible to plant too many potatoes this spring. Last year tho Premier appealer! to the iarmer to grow more potatoes, and he responded bv beating all records. Tins year lie appeals again, and with even gieatet earnestness, because the need is twice ai great. If we can get a million acres under potatoes in Croat Britain tins voar, ho savs, tho food situation ill aiul farmers will liavo rendered an immense service to their country. • The potato grower is in the front line 01 the fight against the .submarine. Ho can defeat it it he chooses, but iici-oij depends on liis action andcxertions during tho next few weeks." THE FARMER'S KKSPONvSIBILITY. In making an appeal to the farmers and agricultural labourers ot >onolk to liroduco more food this year than th>\v liad ever done before, or perhaps had even contemnlated as possible, Mr Prothero, M.P., said the onemy had believed that tvo could not get together a large army, or that, even il we could, -we could not furnish it with munitions on the requisite scale. In each instance thev had been wrong. Now the Germans believed that the ".slothful ' and "comfort-loving" British agriculturist could not produce the food that was necessarv to see us safely through the crisi;:. "IVero they again to bo^ proved wrong? (Loud cries of "Yes.") fTe hoped so. The Government had told them, with all the forco at their command, that every additional sack of corn and every sack of potatoes they could raise meant a step towards victory, and he was convinced that tho farmers of this country would put forth their utmost strength, take every risk, and make every sacrifice in order to find tho additional food. There had been, and still were, great difficulties, but. there were now two and a half million -women workers on the bind, the value of -whose work ivas daily increasing, iind as regards the food prices the producer -was now in a much better position than was the case six months ago. It might bo that the food supply was our one weak point, and the point at which the German tvaa directing his blow, but tho British farmer, realising this, would not fail the countrv in her hour of need.

VALUABLE BONES. One of tho most important activities of the newly-formed National Salvage Council will concern the utilisation of

refuso from private houses. Bones, for example, should not now be hurnt or thrown into the dustbin, evon after making soup. They arc far more valuable to the nation than most people are aware. Everv 181b of bones can be made to supply enough glycerine for an 18-poundor shell. • Imported glycerine costs £300 a ton, glycerine produced at homecan be bought by tho Government at £59 10s a ton. Bones can bo con-

verted into valuable pliosphatic manure. Before, the -war phosphatic manure was mainly imported from abroad. Its provision to-day for food production is one of the most urgent national needs. JProm bones, also, can be made a valuable poultry food known as bone-meal. This will also apply to fish bones if treated separately. Bones may be disposed of to any authorised local collectors. The important point is that they must be returned for national purposes. FROM BEER TO BREAJX Persons in the brewing industry expect furthei* Government restrictions with regard to the strength of Beer. It is said that the original gravity will be reduqed from 1,036, the figure at which Government ale now stands, to 1030. By this reduction it is estimated that something like 200,000 quarters of barley.could be diverted from the brewers to the bakers. A brewing' expert said that probably the step would not bo objected to in country districts or in parts of England outside the great < industrial areas of tho Midlands and the North.' As regards these, it -was impossible to say what -would be the effeet on. working-class opinion. These -brewers have, so far, refused to break down strength, preferring to produce a smaller quantity of strong beer rather than to brew the weaker beverage, but if the expectations in the trade are realised, they will have to come into line, and the standard, so far: as gravity concerned, will be the samo everywhere. • This "would mean that certain ; famous brands of bottled ale would be , -no longer obtainable as soon as the present stocks, known to he very large indeed, were exhausted.

IX)OKING TO THE FUTURE. " At a City meeting, Mr A. Bigland, M.P., said that when peace came there • would be a. scramble for raw material, and if we <did not keep a controlling hand on thatf within our Empire, unemployment in this country would be brought about' to an extent that very i ; few; realised. There was going to be, such a famine of raw material available for immediate delivery when the war, ended; that if everybody was al- : lowed to-bid,and the goods .went , to the highest-bidder, we should be left absolutely stranded, because the necessities of oxher people would bo.. greater than • , ours, and for the moment they would outbid us. AIDING U-BOATS. How substantial help is being given. ■ to the U-boats in their campaign to '- starve Britain was explained by Professor S. J. Hickson, of Manchester > University, in a lecture qn "Birds and Insects in Relation to Crops." He said that though tho destruction of our food supplies by. the action of the enemy at sea had been met by the determined resistance of the Navy and other forces, unfortunately tlxo destruction of our food supplies l>y bird and insect enemies • at home had not received tho serious attention it deserved, nor had it been a subject of interest and co-ordinated effort. If one called to mind the damage caused to various food crops

during the summer of 1917 by posts, such as the wireworm, the \\ bulb fly, the cabbace root ? - cnion and carrot flies, and the - pillars of various species, it w f®P r 9' J * nblv no exaggeration to say that the insects alone destroyed more of our Homegrown food than the enemy destroyed ol food from abroad. "Of trained entomologists." said Professor H.ickson, '•'we have but a few left m this country. *01110 of them are fighting in the ranks others are threatened -with the summons to the colours, and others have been driven abroad or into the service of the colonies by waut of recognition at home."

•WOOL FROM DOG COMBING?. It lias liecit found that a hidi class of wool can l>e spun from the combines of nil breeds of long-haired dogs, such r-; Chows. Pekingese, and poodle-. In orrl-r K> organise this source of supply, a ciimr.'iittec has hen formed under the auspice- of the Red Cross, and owncs are invited to preserve combings from their dogs. SHORTER WORKING HOVRS. The announcement that a six-hour workinc day is 10 be introduce:! atT'ort Sunli"hi h*js created great interest. Mr AY. H. Lover. -whoso arguments m favour of a shorter working day arc v.* ell known, snys that though detail have nr.t yet Itfen thoroughly worked out, it is hoped to start tho experiment vci v >oon. The effect on pieceworkers is one of the chief points under consideration ; but whatever decision i"> taken, the* workers "will not be any ■uorse off. It is intended to work the six hours at stretch, work being continued by another six-hour s'nilt. Everything possible is to be done to ensure ■bettor results from the machinery without straining the powers of the -workpeople.