GERMANY AND THE' WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15685, 12 August 1914, Page 6

GERMANY AND THE' WAR.

The position of Germany with respect to her food supplies may be summed up by saying that though she has become more and more a manufacturing nation, she still produces enough food for about ninetenths of her population. Her exports of food consist chiefly of sugar and rye, while her chief imports are wheat, eggs, barley, coffee, maize, butter, and tea. The closing of her ports by an investing British fleet may stop the supply of many luxuries of the table, but the normal production of the country appears to assure the staples. The probability of famine in Germany is decreased by the proximity of her ally, Austria-Hungary, one of the chief wheat-growing countries of the world. Normally Germany absorbs portion of the Russian surplus of wheat, but the capacity of Austria to provide an alternative supply cannot be doubted. It is quite probablo there is a shortage of wheat in Germany at the present time, because the quantity stored is at its lowest in July and .August, the new season's wheat being not then available. The harvesting of the crop next month, together with the supply that may become available from Austria, should provide a reserve

for the provisioning of the army and the feeding of the nation for at least several months. The' position might have been seriously prejudiced had the enemy been able to carry the war quickly into German territory and capture or destroy the crop before it was harvested. The Germans, however, have pursued their usual tactics of making hostile country the scene of operations, and it is highly improbable that either France or Russia will be able to roll the tide of war back on Germany quickly enough to threaten her annual food supply.