BRITISH FOOD SUPPLY

Nelson Evening Mail, 14 May 1917, Page 5

BRITISH FOOD SUPPLY

'SHORTAGiE OF FORAGE. i' (Australian and N.Z. .C&ble. Association..) ■ ■ '■' LOISfDOIISr; May 1 . 12. The Press Bureau j?eperts : that Lord Devonport has imposed rations of cereal J foodstuffs for; horses,: except horses,used . j for &e"rArm'y Council, '|He j or agricultural;., purposes/,";'." ; sta;liib;ns^"in ;J | stud,, thoroughbred mares' "and bthers'Mn fbal arid ; ' With foal at foot. . '.'.

(Mr Leslie Scott, M.P., chairman, of the jlouse of Commons Agricultural Committee, is apparently less optimistic regarding the food position in Britain than.xertain .members r ,of the Cabinet who 'have recently, giyeri .views, on the matter. 'Speaking in February' .Mi 1 Scott jsaid :—''The, ; r.ppsitipti of '.- the. farmer to-day is appalling. It cannot be. met by temporary;'eip„edients. ; We must have' immediately, a d,enjie,d policy which must, carry us over the war for a long period of years. Whether' the; Germans succeed in building sufficient submarines to cut off our supplies" from oversea, or whether the counter'-efforts of our Navy prove successful or not, - it. would be folly." of the "maddest - ;kind,'. not.. act upon' the ;.HypbthesiiSthatvw'e. ; are..faced, with the gravest possible position,. TJiV-. der \ existing circumstances. - there,, is . ho, p6Ssibility df the output of home-grown, food-in 19l? being greater than in 1916, If in June, 1917," our overseas supplies are really., cut off, it will be small satisfaction to a starving population in these islands to knbw 'that in- thel "month-of February the Government did_ not realise the 'seriousness of the .position. "As'a first measure, the farmer' rriugt have sef curity not' only for,'■labour,'but"-in , v re;. .gard.'tt) fixed pWc.es lor thteir'. chief product, wheat, and 'oats'.''But such maximum prices must carry with them a guaranteed minimum wage * for. labourers, and a further guarantee that all;land-suitable shall be pin?to the best possible uses for the growing of food. Such a measure would. not only encourage the farmer, but would greatly'• benefit the labourer 'and protect the.small-. salaried man... The farmers" as' a: class have accepted 'the' present' system of' fixed .pricey, in a most'...patriotic spirit," but it. does not: go far enough. The point of junction.where wai 1 policy and after-war policy met. seemed to have ■ been overlooked. When the war is over, some 5 or 10 per cent of the discharged soldiers will be drawn to the land, and ready to settle if conditions i are made'favourable. Not only have we to look tq'the,'pxesent but to. the' future. The wai: policy must 'be bound np'.with . the after-war/policy. ' W"p shall be, more and more, dependent \tpoh home-g^own;' supplies for possibly five yeai;s after .the war.;").. ,' 1 . .;."'•'. "',''' ".■"■'