The Gisborne Herald. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES” GISRORNE, THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1943. FOOD FOR BRITAIN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21141, 8 July 1943, Page 2

The Gisborne Herald. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES” GISRORNE, THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1943. FOOD FOR BRITAIN

In a broadcast address the head of the British food mission has declared that Great Britain can do with all the meat and dairy produce which Australia and New Zealand can send her. After reviewing the hardships that had been endured and the sacrifices made by the people of Britain and emphasising the need for a maintenance of food supplies, ho asserted confidently that "New Zealand will be there.” Here there is a definite challenge to the Dominion. The Mother Country is sorely in need of foodstuffs which New Zealand is capable of producing in abundance and which her own people enjoy at least in ample sufficiency. It would appear from the statements made in London—and borne out by a general knowledge of the situation—that transport is no longer a barrier against the shipment of oroduee and that all that is required is that New Zealand should be prepared to make some sacrifice or some greater effort to ensure that rations in Britain are not still further reduced. When the war efforts and the sufferings ol the peoples of the two countries are compared, when it is remembered just how great a debt the Dominion owes to the Mother Country, it. it inconceivable that this appeal should fall on deaf ears. It is l'or the Government to take .steps to see that Britain's need if-, met.

At the present time the butter ration in Britain is 2o z. per head a week. In Now Zealand the normal consumption is more than 12oz. per head, or six times as much. The people of Britain are allowed less than lib. of meat a week while those of New Zealand consume nearly Mb. Kvcn the present scanty rations at Home are endangered and can only be maintained if supplies from overseas arc increased. In normal years, New Zealand is one of the largest, if not the largest, supplier of butter to Britain. Under war conditions the market in Denmark has been closed and this largely throws on New Zealand the responsibility of making good the deficiency. New Zealand nas been asked by Britain to increase her

exports of butter, but has hot acceded to the request. On the contrary, the heavier demand for the forces in the Pacific has meant a reduction on what is available for export. The people of tiie Dominion have made no sacrifice at all. The same thing applies to meat although the question of supply in this connection probably is not uch an important factor. The fact remains. however, that. Britain urgently needs more meat and butter and it is unthinkable that the people of this country, immune from all the ravages of war. should not do everything in their power to see that that need is supplied. It should not be necessary to state a

case in support of aid for Britain. In the most critical days of the war. when Britain herself was in grave danger of invasion, she denuded herself of weapons in order that the New Zealand army in the field, among others, should have all the equipment that was available. Only in the recent Budget was it disclosed that wheii the New Zealanders lost all their equipment in Greece and Crete the whole of the loss was borne by Britain and the necessary replacements effected. When New. Zealand, whose danger was never great, called out for guns and tanks and planes and innumerable other weapons of war it was Britain who supplied them ungrudgingly, even when it meant that she herself had to go without. Today Britain appeals to New Zealand for more butter and more meat and while her people go short of these vital commodities New Zealanders almost wallow in them. Butter, perhaps, is the most vital immediate need and New Zealand could provide more for Britain if her own people were rationed. They would have been rationed already had it not been election year. In other words the people of Britain are being kept needlessly short of butter in order that the Government of New Zealand can secure some political advantage until the elections are out of the way. It is not, of course, only a matter of rationing, although if New Zealanders were restricted to Boz. a week, which is four times as much as the people of Britain receive, there would be an extra 10,000 tons a year available for export. What is more important is that the production front should be efficiently organised. In Britain, despite the enormous military commitments, agriculture has been so developed that production lias increased to an amazing degree. In New Zealand, essentially an agricultural country with all other forms of production severely limited, primary production has actually declined and is still declining at an alarming rate. This is an echo of the general man-power muddle—a failure to maintain that front without which all other fronts must collapse. It is imperative that New Zealand without further delayeven at the cost of some sacrifice to her own people—should see that Britain is supplied with more essential foodstuff's. That is the first step. The second is to see that labour is diverted to the farms from which New Zealand, in the present circumstances, can make her best contribution towards the war effort as a whole.

Already there has been far too much procrastination and muddlement. There must be no further delay because the need of the Mother Country i.-; vital and urgent.