MEAT AND WHEAT SUPPLIES FOR BRITAIN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22427, 6 September 1947, Page 4

MEAT AND WHEAT SUPPLIES FOR BRITAIN

yyiTil food still the dominating factor in Europe, including Britain, the announcement that more Australian meat and wheat will go to the United Kingdom this year is most welcome. The British Secretary for Commonwealth Relations, Lord Addison, who took part in the negotiations at Canberra, said he was “very gratified and a hit surprised” to learn that Australia would be able to increase her beef and lamb exports despite the drought losses of recent years. His hint that Britain and Australia are discussing a long-term wheat agreement is especially interesting in light of America’s recent intimation that she would have difficulty in exporting even as much grain. as last year. Britain’s own harvest promises to lie hotter than was expected during the severe late winter and spring, but the short growing season and the drought over large parts of the country will almost inevitably result in a light yield. On the Continent the food situation is still a grave problem. France has found it necessary to reduce the bread ration, and in Germany the rations are still subject to temporary suspension when stocks arc insufficient to meet them. As the third harvest after the end of the war in Europe is gathered in the Northern Hemisphere it seems incredible that the Continental countries are still unable to lift their production to the level that existed before the war. But the seasons have been unfavourable, and other factors have probably been a shortage of agricultural machinery and man-power—also' the listlessncss (in Germany) of a defeated people. The days of surpluses seem more distant than ever. _ It is clear that more production must still he the goal if the vicious circle of starvation and consequent inability to maintain agricultural effort is to he broken.