THE PROBLEM OF FOOD SUPPLY.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17393, 2 March 1922, Page 8

THE PROBLEM OF FOOD SUPPLY.

AGRICULTURE IN GEEAT BRITAIN (TBOM OUB OWN COBKESI'OMDKNT.) LONDON, January 10. Dr. E. W. Shanahan (formerly of Auckland), who was recently awarded j .the Hutchinson Research Medal by the -London School of Economics, has contributed to "Discovery'' an article on "British. Agriculture and the Food Supply." His conclusion is that even if. the Government decision to decontrol agriculture has not been taken, it is' fairly clear that so long as Great Britain retains its industrial prosperity, it cannot hope to obtain much more than one-half of its total food consumption from within' the British isles. _ '•'The present standing of Britisn agriculture is due to a. balance of remunerativeness. between industry on the one hand and manufactures and commerce on the other. Great Britain has hitherto been a relatively ncn coutnry just because a number of its citizen.-} were engaged in business niore remunerative than agriculture; tney received on the average a greater leturn for. say, each hour's work than did the. neople of most other countries. If manufactures, mining, and commerce had not been so profitable, it is almost certain that a greater proportion of the population would have been engaged in producing food, and that the country would have been more self-supporting in respect of such necessities. We cannot have it both ways." Dr. Shanahan points out that assuming means could be devised to render the British Isles largely independent of external non-tropical food supplies, there would be disadvantages, perhaps even dangers, to be reckoned with from the Imperial point of view.' The four leading self-governing Dominions look to Great Britain as the chief, and almost the only market for their principal exports, namely, agricultural products. "The complex economic tie is the chief bond that unites these new British lands with the old one. More than that, it gives British manufacturers seeking markets in these countries a pull ovejr competitors, because the Dominions prefer to buy 'from tbeir chief customer, even if prices are «omewhat higher, and because the large streams of shipping employed in carrying agricultural produce home to Britain, provide space and more reasonable freights for British manufactures outsyards. If the British market for agricultural products were largely, lost, an unfavourable readjustment might follow in the trade in her manufactures. The British Isles, owing to their low mean elevation and to their oceanic situation, are described as being pre-eminently suited to grasses, and _though the l| hill pastures, constituting the best alUround sheep lands in the world, are prJbably now utilised to_ the best, advantage, much more might possibly be done than at present in increasing the food yield of the lowlands. A pasture country such as this is naturally adapted to numerous fodder crops. ?nvestigation and research are required to discover new or improved fodder crops that are especially adapted to different British localities.. It is essential that such crops should have a productiveness or an economic utility peculiar to the British Isles. For there are few secrets in agriculture, and improvements made here would soon be adopted in other countries if applicable there; and the resulting competition in prices would cancel the advantage aimed at; Reference'is made to the dilemma which confronts the country, thus: If the the country becomes poor , enough to find it profitable to divert more labour to agriculture it will "hot be rich enough to afford the same expenditure upon high-class foods such as meat and butter, for the production of which British resources are peculiarly adapted—unless every one is willing to work harder so as to have more wealth at command, which does not seem to be the tendency at present. Whatever compromise with the economic situation is suggested by considerations of military safety and of the effects of undue specialisation in industry, the main-point remains that any of the conditions capable of . promoting an increase of home-pro-duced food would, after all, ba such as to alter the relative advantages of agricultural and non-agricultural industries; nnd there conditions fall under three .heads: those that arise from within agriculture itself, such as improvements in methods and organisation (and these arje the most desirable), those that are external to agriculture and artificial, such as tariffs, bounties, and subsidies, against which there are weighty objections.,and those that would follow from a relative decline in British manufacturing and commercial prosperity, which Dr. Shanahan earnestly hopes may never be realised. WALL STREET' BROKERS. MORE FAILURES. JfEW YORK, February 28. Four indre stock-brokers have suspended business, making thirty-five since the 1 recent raids upon the "bucket shops" commenced. [A message fjrom New York on February 23rd said: Four Wall street stock-broking/firms oollajjsed within twenty-four hours, causing a sensation dn the Stock Exchanges. Several other firms have gone bankrupt during recent weeks, one cause being the energetic action of' the authorities to stamp out the so-called bucket shops, many of- which have swindled thousands of people.] nSH SUPPLIES FROM THE SOUTH. . ~ \ The latest alterations in the railway'service have proved moat inconvenient to the local fishermen, who have been in the habit of forwarding supplies to the Christchuroh market (the fi North Otago Times" isinfonSed). Under the old service, fish could be despatched by the mid-day express for the North' dftilyv arrd was therefore on the market in Chris tchnrch the following morning. This arrangement is still practicable on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but on Tuesdays," Thursdays, and Saturdays, when the express runs from Invercargill, fislToan |be taken by . it from Oamaru only on condition that there is room"for it in the guard's "van, and this; it. is said, never' happens. The result is' that on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdaye supplies of fish consigned taChriatchuxch have to ; be Bent forward by goods and ore not available for sale to the public till two days later. DAIBY tRODTJCE OUTPUT. The very fin® 'season enjoyed along the west coast of the North Island, particularly in the. Taranakr province, has been responsible for on increase of fully 20 per cent, in fie output of dairy produce. This is born© out .by the.-ieturns of the Taranaki producers' freezing- works at Moturoa. for the present season, figures being as follows, with comparative returns for the previous season shown in parentheses:—Butter, 142,281 boxes (102,664); cheese, 100,863 crates ■(97 t 773).~-The increases axe 39,617 boxes' of butter and 3000 crates of cheese. During the past five, weeks many factories have been swinging from butter to cheese. THEPBOPEBTY MARKET. .. "Saltaire," New Brighton, was submitted at auction yesterday by Jones, McCrostie Co., Ltd. Bidding started at £3OOO, and rose by £250 bids to £3500, when the-property was passed in.