BRITAIN’S FOOD SUPPLIES

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 241, 8 July 1938, Page 11

BRITAIN’S FOOD SUPPLIES

No Artificial Expansion

At Home

London, July 6.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, explained his references to food supplies in his speech at Kettering (in which he denied the assertion that all Britain’s food should be grown at home) to a meeting of members of Parliament representing agricultural constituencies to-day. The Prime Minister said that he felt that, in the light of the defence preparations, there was no need to embark on artificial expansion of home production. Moreover, there could be nothing worse for .agriculture than such an expansion, which it was certain coiild not be maintained.

The Government’s policy was to enable agriculture to be prosperous in time of peace and capable of expansion in time of war.

He added that the Ottawa Agreements had convinced him of the necessity for regulating the production and importation of agricultural products in the interest of stable prices. The members, in thanking the Prime Minister, expressed the opinion that the statement would remove misunderstandings.

Referring in his speech at Kettering to the assertion that all the food Britain needed should be grown at home. Mr. Chamberlain said: “’This would ruin the Empire and foreign countries winch are dependent on our markets and destroy their purchasing power.” He also declared: “The idea that we can be starved out in wartime seems to me entirely fallacious. We can depend on our Navy to keep the trade routes open, thus enabling us to import food and raw materials indefinitely.”