THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1917. THE BRITISH FOOD SUPPLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16595, 19 July 1917, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1917. THE BRITISH FOOD SUPPLY.

The British trade returns for June again testify to the inability of Germany to maintain a submarine blockade of sufficient intensity to dangerously affect the British food supply, although this supply has been seriously reduced. Early in May the King issued a proclamation "most earnestly exhorting and charging all ... . to practise the greatest economy and frugality in the use of every species of grain." The people of the United Kingdom were urged to reduce the consumption of bread by at least one-fourth of the quantity consumed in ordinary times and to abstain altogether from the use of flour for pastry. The Food Controller has announced that only with the strictest economy will there be sufficient grain to last until the harvest is gathered in August The Corn Production Bill, which passed its second reading by 288 to 27, shows that the British Government is taking far-sighted precautions to prevent future shortage of bread should the war be prolonged. The price of grain during the coming season is statutorily fixed at 60s per quarter for wheat and at 38s 6d for oats. For the two following seasons the prices are 55s and 32s respectively, while a further range of prices has been fixed as far forward as 1922, for which year the maximum price for wheat is to be 45s and for oats 245. This extraordinary precaution does not, of course, suggest that the Imperial authorities anticipate a Nine Years War; its purpose is to encourage farmers in breaking up land for cropping, and thus to ensure sufficient foodstuffs for the near future. In connection with this vigorous British domestic legislation, calculated to so increase the local bread supply as to free the country from danger of starvation whatever the immediate eventualities, it is interesting to learn that during the month of June the value of imported grain and flour has increased by £8,124,487. Since the beginning of this year the British Board of Trade has ceased to publish the usual full details of the quantities of food imported. The total importation of grain and flour during the first three months of the year was valued at £36,074.416. During the whole of 1916 it was valued at only £133,306,944. A great effort was evidently being made in January, February, and March to transport across the Atlantic breadstuffs from the United States and Canada, now the chief sources of such British importation. The great increase of June points to still more exceptional measures being taken to obtain supplies from countries near at hand in order to tide over the shortage until the British harvest comes in. This accounts for the apparent neglect of the huge quantities of wheat awaiting shipment in Australia, the Imperial authorities having made no secret of their intention to save the United Kingdom from starvation by

utilising the decreased shipping tonnage now available in transporting food from the nearest sources of supply.

This concentration of shipping space upon the carriage of food and other essentials of war is reflected in the decrease of £859,338 in the total value of imports, as compared with the previous June. Ships sunk by submarines may be regarded as having reduced the aggregates, but not as having altered the relative values of trade items. The decrease still leaves import values for the month at £86,177,011, an amount which has only been exceeded four times in the history of British trade. Had it not been for the submarine campaign, British imports would certainly have attained unprecedented figures. It must be remembered, however, that the war and the German policy of indiscriminate sinking, which nominally commenced in February last, though actually pursued long before, have exaggerated values, so that a sound and reliable comparison between this and previous years is not possible, excepting by an exhaustive investigation into quantities and qualities. It is therefore reassuring to know that Mr. Lloyd George is convinced that if the nation is prepared to make the necessary sacrifice, and put every effort into winning the war, Britain will surmount all its difficulties. That the people of the United Kingdom are ready to make sacrifices is demonstrated in many ways, among them by the heavy falling off in the importation of dutiable goods. This is very satisfactory, for in most cases the duties were imposed for the specific purpose of reducing imports and economising in shipping space, so that more tonnage might be available for necessities. The same interpretation is to be placed upon the reduction in British exports. The British Government is deliberately restricting exports, as Auckland merchants know by experience. The policy of "business as usual" lingered long and was kept alive until comparatively recently by the exigencies of the colossal taskvoluntarily assumed by Britain—of financing the Allies. By the intervention of America the United Kingdom has been relieved of that burden, and the British nation can now concentrate on the production of munitions and the prosecution of the war. It is realised that if the war is to be won within a reasonable time business must take second place. The food-ships are serving a nation-in-arms, not a nation of traders. The drastic curtailment of the export trade is a clear indication that Britain will allow no interests to stand in the way of final victory, thus setting a heroic example to the Dominions as to all the Allies.