BREAD RATIONING

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 June 1946, Page 5

BREAD RATIONING

BRITAIN PREPARING SCHEME DECISION AT END OF MONTH (Rec. noon) LONDON, May 31. The Minister of Food, Mr. Strachey, replying to the debate in the House of Commons, announced that the Government had authorised his Ministry to proceed at once with the prepara • tion of a scheme for bread and flour rationing. The Ministry was consulting interested parties, such as the T.U.C. The bakery trade scheme should be ready at the'end of June when the Government would have decided whether to operate it or not. Mr. Strachey explained that it was expected by the end of June that the Government would be better able to review the . overall supply position. Unquestionably the decision would be to ration brepd and flour if there was the slightest risk of any actual shortage of the fLindamental foodr stuffs. The Government would not flinch from a hard decision. Mr. Strachey added that Britain should get through without rationing of bread if the many complex factors in the situation all went well, but most of these factors were beyond the control of the Government. The Government did not believe that voluntary schemes could be effective. The question would be to devise the fairest method of rationing. The Government was accused of sacrificing , too much,' but othei’ critics pressed for more sacrifices to feed the world’s hungry people. Playing Safe. Mr. Strachey stressed that the Government would play safe. It would be wrong for Britain to attempt to play a lone hand and think only of her own needs. On the other hand Britain alone could not hope to feed the millions of India and also in the British zone of Germany. The prospect in these areas was economic stagnation with starvation leading to chaos and pestilence. Mr. Strachey said that Britain intended to do hdr utmost to help herself. He appealed to the farmers to make crops available at the earliest moment this season. He announced that Britain was organising an emergency programme to manufacture farm implements and spare parts to replace the machinery normally imported from America. Stories of Travellers. Mr. Strachey referred to the stories of travellers in Germany, and agreed it was perfectly true thab in many parts of Europe some people were living better than the people of Britain. They might be farmers or rich persons living in the towns, but the real masses had not been met by the travellers. Mr. Strachey appealed to the Anglo Saxon races to remember “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” fihe lives of more persons were involved in the solution of the problem than had ever been involved in the war. Britain must pursue a resolute path and play her part in saving both herself and the world.

AMERICAN BLACK MARKET CAUSES CONCERN

(Rec. 11 a.m.) WASHINGTON, May 31.

The Agriculture Department’s report on the food situation estimates that the 1947 meat supply is likely to fall by 1,000,600,000 lbs below this year’s very inadequate supply because of feed grain shortages and the increased cost of livestock feeds. The Department declared that black market sales of butter had increased this month, despite the increased spring production. The black market continues to outbid the large meat packers. Consequently the bulk of the beef supplies is going to the black market.

NEED FOR URGENT MEASURES

STRESSED (Rec. 11.30 a.m. LONDON, May 31. There was an urgent need to take measures to . ensure that the 1947 harvest would be the greatest in historv, Sir John Boyd Orr told the international conference of agriculture producers. Sir John flew overnight from the food conference at Washington. ' He said the world, after the harvest of 1946 would be as badly off as at the end of the 1945 harvest, unless measures were taken to husband, conserve and spread out the food equally over the world. If these measures were not taken the world might face another disaster. He asked the conference to send out a message to every farmhouse asking farmers to save grain from the harvests of 1946 and 1947. Every grain should be brought into the market, even though that meant delays in the building up of farm stocks. The conference at its afternoon session, became the International Federation .of Agricultural Producers. Mr James Turner, who is President of the British National Farmers’ Union, was selected as president of the federation. The executive includes representatives of New Zealand, India and Canada.