MAINTAINING FOOD SUPPLIES

Dominion, Volume 39, Issue 28, 27 October 1945, Page 6

MAINTAINING FOOD SUPPLIES

In British ports the vita! necessity of ensuring the delivery of food supplies has caused the Government to employ thousands of soldiers to unload the vessels. Judging by the numbers of servicemen so engaged, operations are being confined largely to the food ships. As more dockers strike, more soldiers are brought in, some from Germany, and the inward flow of food is being maintained. It is of equal importance that, at this end, supplies of foodstuffs for the British people should be dispatched promptly, and it is as much the responsibility of the Government.here to see that the ships are loaded as it is that of the British Government, at the other end, to see that they are unloaded. Already one overseas ship has been delayed for a fortnight, and it was reported yesterday from Auckland that “important food ships loading for the United Kingdom are being seriously delayed by the dispute.” In addition it was stated that “produce in the holds of several ships may deteriorate if the go-slow policy continues much longer,” and some indication of the losses threatened was given by the statement that there were about 11,000 boxes of butter awaiting discharge from coastal vessels.

Last week the New Zealand representative at the conference of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in New York, was said to have raised a major issue by bis reference to “conditions which produced want and hunger in some regions while damming up vast surpluses of food elsewhere.” Mr. Wilson was referring to the course, sometimes adopted in some countries, of systematically reducing the production of foodstuffs, but the effect would be much the same if the foodstuffs produced were held up at any stage in the journey from farm or freezing works to the consumer markets. There can be not the slightest doubt that- all the food New Zealand can produce and ship is urgently required, and nothing should be allowed to interrupt the process. Butter must be kept in cool storage or it soon deteriorates and there are 275 tons of butter awaiting discharge at Auckland. On a daily ration of 3oz. per head that represents a lot of butter to British people, and they need it. Whatever the merits or demerits of the dispute the loading of this food here is as essential as its unloading overseas.