FEEDING OF BRITAIN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 10 February 1926, Page 7

FEEDING OF BRITAIN.

DEPENDENCE ON IMPORTS.

SUPPLIES FROM MANY LANDS

Great Britain is the greatest; of the world’s markets for food of all kinds. Slie draws her supplies from all parts of the globe, and there is practically no country which has food to sell which cannot find a British buyer, says Sir Henry Row, who was chairman of the Allies Wheat Purchasing Committee, 1915-16, a member of the Royal Commission of Wheat Supplies, 1916-20, and Secretary to the Ministry of Food. The imports of food and drink to the United Kingdom (which still includes Ulster, but now excludes Southern Ireland) amounted to 43 per cent, of the total value of.all imports in 1924. The most important source of Britain’s food supplies is her own agricultural land. Notwithstanding the magnitude of the food imports, it is still true that approximately half those food supplies which are not of tropical or sub-tropical origin are home-produced. More than four-fifths of the country’s wheat requirements are imported, and of butter about the same proportion. On the other hand, 92 per cent, of the potatoes and all the fresh milk are home-produced. Between these extremes come such necessary foods as meat and cheese, of which the imported supply ranges from about 40 to 50 per cent, "of the total consumption. EMPIRE PRODUCTION.

“The dream of a British Empire which produces all the food its inhabitants need, and is thus independent of foreign supplies, is attractive as an ideal, but it must be admitted that it is far from realisation in practice,’ says Hir Henry Row. “We draw at present nearly the whole of our oversea supplies of cheese from New Zealand, Canada and Australia, but for our bread we have to rely for nearly half our requirements on the United States and Argentina. Last year Canada, having a record crop of wheat in 1923, was the largest individual contributor to the British oread cupboard, and she will probably be capable in the not far distant future of supplying all the wheat we need, but at present we should go very short if we depended on Imperial supplies alone. For beef we are still more dependent on foreign countries. About 45 per cent, is produced in Great Britain, and the Dominions, including the Irish Free State, supply an additional 13 per cent. For more than twofifths we depend mainly on Argentina,, with smaller contributions from Uruguay and the United States. Threefourths of the mutton we eat is Empire produce, the remainder coming from Argentina and Uruguay. On the other hand, we are less self-supporting as an Empire with regard to pig meat —bacon, hams and pork —than in any other of the chief foodstuffs. More thau half our requirements come from foreign countries, Denmark and the United States being the principal suppliers, with Denmark a long way the largest. The small amount of butter produced in this country has already been mentioned, and the contribution of the Dominions is twice as great. But for nearly half our supplies we depend on foreign countries. Denmark sends much the largest quantity, but Argentina, since the war, has entered into active competition, which is rapidly increasing. Last year she sent half as much as New' Zealand, which stands second to Denmark as oversea source of supply. INCREASING IMPORTS.

< ‘ For our sugar we are almost entirely dependent on foreign countries, the chief sources of supply being Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Mauritius, St. Domingo, Java and Peru. More than half our coffee comes from countries outside the Empire, but nearly two-thirds of our tea is sent from India and Cevlon.

"To increase the quantity of food produced in Great Britain is desirable on many grounds, sociological as well as economic. At the same time a drastic reduction of our imports from various countries would have very farreaching effects. But a substantial increase of home-grown food is possible without any such disturbance of existing conditions. As year by year the population increases, so, with almost equal regularity, the area of land available for food production decreases. Unless therefore greater production is secured from the agricultural land which remains, imports. of food musj; inevitably increase. Our dependence on oversea supplies, and particularly on supplies outside the Empire emphasises the essential truth of the famous saying that 'the greatest of British interests is Peace,’ and the vital importance of maintaining, through our foreign policy, friendly relations with the countries on which we roly for our food—that, is, indeed, with all the world.”