OUR DAILY DIET

Evening Star, Issue 24160, 2 April 1942, Page 2

OUR DAILY DIET

NEW ZEALANDERS' CONSUMPTION ORIGIN OF IMPORTED ITEMS (Special.) WELLINGTON, April 2. War operations in the Pacific have created a position when for the first time in their history New Zealanders have to take serious thought about the sources of popular items in the daily diet, and to consider whether the average rate of consumption is not too high in relation to the chance of replacement by importation. There is no danger of food shortage in the Dominion, but the daily diet may have to be considerably varied—changed in some respects and limited in others—because the available shipping may not be able to maintain average importations of important commodities. TEA CONSUMPTION AND ORIGIN. Tea is the outstanding necessity of a New Zealander, and the country does not grow it. The annual consumption per head has remained fairly steady at 71b. and imports even during the war period have been satisfactory—nearly 12.00«.0001b in 1940 and 13,185.0001 b in 1941. These figures are actually in excess of pre-war years. The sources of our tea, considered in line with the current war cables, are worth analysing. The latest details of this nature are for the year 1938: Ceylon, 10,877,8001 b: India. 219,8101 b; China, 53,9001 b. There was a small contribution from Netherlands East Indies a few years ago, but nothing has come from that area during the war. BIG SUGAR EATERS. The annual consumption of sugar by New Zealanders is 1121 b of the refined type per head. The great bulk is manufactured in the country, but the raw material is imported. In 1938 we required 1,490,647 cwt of raw sugar, and the principal contributor was the Netherlands East Indies, with a total of 1,311,721 cwt. Cuba provided .156,830 cwt, though a few years earlier it had sent us over 600,000 cwt. The Fijian proportion was 21,833 cwt. Another imported commodity of consequence, salt, comes from countries in Allied occupation; United Kingdom, 487,406 cwt; Australia, 272,884 cwt; Canada, 17,562 cwt. New Zealand has occasionally obtained salt from the United States. Our annual consumption per htead is 631 b. It will probably surprise the average reader to find that Australia provides • us with more rice than any other country. Our annual consumption of 6£lb per head is provided thus: Australia, 17,312 cwt; Siam, 10,579 cwt; Burma, 10,407 cwt; China, 8,997 cwt; India, 4,766 cwt. • ,

Guaranteed prices for tobacco growers in New Zealand tend to make the country more self-supporting as the scheme develops, but we are far from this point at present. The average consumption per head every year is nearly 10|lb, and the greatest sources of raw tobacco for manufacturing in New Zealand are: United States nearly 3,000,0001 b, with the Netherlands East Indies contributing a modest 2,0001 b and the Philippines 3,0001 b.