AID FOR BRITAIN.

Lake County Mail, Issue 15, 3 September 1947, Page 2

AID FOR BRITAIN.

The official representatives of Federated Farmers at the special “Aid for Britain” conference held m Wellington last week express satisfaction with the amount of concrete and practical work achieved. The conference was so large in size that delegates at first feared that the whole meeting would be abortive. Once, however, the opening general session was over, the two smaller committees operated effectively and discussions became practical and worth-while. When the recommendation of the committees arc implemented by the Government, provided all sections of the community give full and active support, the scheme should prove richly fruitful in aiding Britain. Serious Food\ Situation The seriousness of the food situation in Britain has, of course, been known for a long time and present mails bring more and more evidence of the desperate nature of the position. The last English mail, for instance, brought to head office of the federation information that about 4000 tons of whale meat have recently been imported into the United Kingdom, and that whale is retailing at about 2s 6d per lb a clear reflection on the prevailing meat shortage. In addition to the frozen kind, supplies of dehydrated whale meat are also arriving there for use in manufacturing. Meat imports to Britain for the first six months of the year show a big decline over those for the corresponding period of 1946.' The figures are as follows, 1946 figures being shown in parentheses and the quantities being given in tons: —Beef (211,953), 204,710; veal (6187), 5057; mutton and lamb (203,562), 218,962; pork (58,985), 7837. The total decrease is 44,121 tons for the six months. Decline in Pork Biggest decline is that of pork and the following table shows the imports of that product over the same sixmonthly periods in cwts:; — 1946 1947 Australia . . . . 153,429 25,654 New Zealand .. 175,205 55,307 Canada .. . • 75,565 U.S.A 336,120 14,407 Argentine . . 429,989 61,380 Others . . • ■ 8,835 Over the same period butter imports show a decline of 6301 tons and cheese a fall of 13,072 tons. The recent cut in food imports from hard currency countries of £12,000,000 monthly will further aggravate the position.' Britain’s only hope is to be fed, in the main, from the nations of the Commonwealth and the farmers of New Zealand, therefore, have a heavy responsibility to meet. Appeal for Calves As soon as the Wellington conference had dpcided on the first steps of the “Aid to Britain ” campaign, the Federation’s acting Dominion president, Mr H. E. Blyde, broadcast a special appeal to dairy farmers to rear at least 10 per cent, additional heifer calves. Mr Blyde admitted that the appeal came rather late and therefore, to make up for those who could not at present do what was asked, he suggested that those who could should do more, should raise more than an additional 10 per cent. That would cause some inconvenience, but the present was a time when all people had to make sacrifices. An allout national effort to increase produc-