NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 147, 18 March 1937, Page 10

NOTES OF THE DAY

Mr. McFaul's opinion from the Chamber of Commerce point of view that heavy expenditure on public works when times are good is improvident policy deserves emphasis. What is disturbing business men to-dav is that while the Government is spending for prosperity with a prodigal hand there is no indication of any provision being made for the future. When the public works now in hand are completed other undertakings will be necessary to keep men in employment. But suppose something happens to shorten the supply of money and make such works impossible/ Strictly speaking, public works should be regarded as something in hand for slack periods, and provision made accordingly. The promotion of employment bv the State, on State undertakings, with the State's money, is not sound economy. News that th« Ufftish Government has decided largely to replace margarine with F’npire butter throughout the Navy. Army, and Air Force will be welcomed in the dairy-exnorting Dominions. Australia and New Zealand, it is stated, will obtain large orders The Dominions are also expected to benefit by the demand for meat created bv the decision to increase the food rations. There has been strong agitation for some time past for an improvement in the dietary of the Services, with special emphasis on the benefit to be derived from the replacement of the margarine ration by butter. This agitation is part of the national campaign against malnutrition, and has been fortified by the increasing difficulties experienced in recruiting men for the Services. It has wider implications, however, from the standpoint of the Dominions’ British markets. A general raising of food standards in the United Kingdom would mean a very substantial increase in the demand for our exportable food products. In matters of diet the standard of living in Britain is below that of the Dominions, where people live on a more generous scale, but it ha> been slowly rising, though it has some distance to go before it reaches our level. ' This development should have an important influence on our export trade as time goes on.