STUPENDOUS ORDERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 18, 21 July 1943, Page 3

STUPENDOUS ORDERS

DIG—OR GO WITHOUT

The facts behind "Dig for Victory" and the alternatives of digging or not digging were stated quite briefly by Mr. Ben Roberts, chairman of the New Zealand committee; yesterday afternoon to a small meeting of those who will pass on what the plan is and why people right through the country will have this year, and every ?ear until the war is over, to "dig heir own."

People will have to grow their own vegetables, because otherwise they will not get them in anything like sufficient quantities to keep up a balanced diet, for the demands of the Forces in the Pacific have built up a stupendous order. Whether the food that is shipped from New Zealand is eaten by- New Zealanders in the Pacific or the Middle East, or Australians, or Englishmen in England, or Americans, is academic beside the fact that this country has had orders put on the table and must fill them. These orders will keep commercial f irowers and the new Army vegetable arms on the stretch, and the small consumer will have to grow his own, or at best, almost all his own.

Mr. Roberts opened his case by reading one order for the Pacific, for six months' supply only (main items only given here, all weights in lbs.): For canning: Beans, 2,247,150; beets, 3,138,500; carrots, 2,138,400; peas, 2,281,500. Fresh vegetables: Beans. 1.289,000; beets, 939;000; cabbage, 3,837,000; carrots, 2,918,000; cauliflower, 1,055,000; lettuce, 1,958,000; onions, 4,022,200; peas, 1,094,000; potatoes, 18,821,000; swedes, 1,016,000; tomatoes, 3,184,000. Also: 3,900,000 cans of tomatoes and tomato juice; 9,400,000 lb. of jam; 3,000,000 cans of peaches, apricots, pears, and apples; 8,700,000 cans of assorted vegetables with pork and beef. There are 18 other varieties on the order, right through the vegetable alphabet—asparagus, celery, corn, kumaras, marrows, white turnips, and so on.

"No one can measure what the demand is going to be. The war in the Pacific is only just starting," he said. "I prefer the safe principle—get ready for the worst; hope for the best; and accept what God sends."

This coming spring was going to be perhaps most difficult of all, for the new Army vegetable farms were onlyjust being taken over and could not reach full productivity. ■Because of tropical diseases—as great a danger in Pacific war zones as bullets, bombs, or shells—vegetables took a place of new importance in fighting diet.

IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL GARDENS.

/ So far, said Mr. Roberts, the Dig for Victory idea had progressed most in Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch, and in other districts had yet to make a real start. Just as the production of vegetables in New Zealand for all forces in the Pacific, instead of transporting American-grown food thousands of miles from America, would save shipping space, so local gardens would save rail and road haulage in New Zealand. In their enthusiasm some people had suggested that the Government should declare a state of emergency and should order such bodies as the Home Guard or E.P.S. to turn to and dig, said Mr. Roberts. There was not going to be dragooning.

He very much preferred the attitude of officers of the Wellington E.P.S. who had asked him: Can our people help in any worth-while way? They very definitely could. If the job was to be done it would best be done through understanding and with good will. Education boards and schools were working in wonderfully well, and could do a very great deal. Horticultural and garden clubs, compost circles, and all those bodies would naturally be behind them, but for the individual it came down to a realisation that the very greatest help he could give was by getting to it as an individual, supplying himself and his neighbour if need be, so leaving the big grower more free to meet the sort of mass demand he had indicated in the one order he had quoted. "The total civil demand is very great, so that the total relief can be very great," said Mr. Roberts. "Let it be understood at once that we are not trying to develop a multitude of small market gardens m small plots and sections. That would make it impossible to get anywhere. It would tie the whole thing up with red tape. If some people grow more vegetables than they need, they can place them easily, among neighbours not well placed, on shop day stalls, or for other patriotic purposes. There are many ways m which they can contribute to national welfare without asking the Government to come into the picture at all.