EMPIRE'S FOOD SUPPLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18456, 20 July 1923, Page 9

EMPIRE'S FOOD SUPPLY.

ASSURANCE IN WARTIME. SELF-SUPPORTING IDEAL. DEBATE IN THE LORDS. By Telegraph— Association—Copyright. (Received 9.5 p.m.) A.: anil N. 7. ; LONDON. July 18. The Earl of Selbourne, in the House of Lords, asked whether in. visw of the development of submarine and aerial warfare the Government. would refer the question of the bearing of national defence on food, production in Britain to the Committee of Imperial Defence. The Marquis of Salisbury said that the subject discussed by the Imperial Conference was the Navy, upon which in the long run we must rely for our food supply. This country could never be wholly self-supporting in the matter of food, and whatever our fiscal system, we must in wartime be dependent on the fleet. Viscount Long appealed for broadminded consideration of the problem of the Empire's food supply at the coming Imperial Conference. We had an Empire capable of producing everything necessary, yet we were no nearer finding means of realising this great ambition. The Dominions were more than ready to meet Britain half way. There were mature statesmen in the Dominions of very great ability who were daily considering the question. When they came to England he hoped that they would not be s content merely to discuss the question but that they would raise it themselves.