AGRICULTURE IN WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23338, 5 May 1939, Page 8

AGRICULTURE IN WAR

With a rearmament programme in full tide, and organisation being laid down for the rapid mobilisation of Britain's resources,- in men and material, agriculture and the food supply cannot be overlooked. They have not been. The statement of policy made by Sir Reginald DormanSmith, Minister of Agriculture, to the House of Commons, is on similar lines to others made by his predecessor in office, and by the Prime Minister. In brief, the meaning that Britain has not bowed the knee to the idol of self-sufficiency. As long ago as 1937 the previous Minister, Mr. W. S. Morrison, laid it down that to put agriculture on a war-' time footing, with all the regulations, regimentation and heavy costs involved, would not be practicable nor justified in time of peace. This principle was re-affirmed even more clearly by Mr. Chamberlain in July last year. He pointed out that any attempt to make the British Isles self-supporting in foodstuffs would have many evil consequences. At home there would be the effect on export industries, trade, and shipping, which might very well result in reducing the nation's power to meet a war emergency. Abroad the effect on friendly countries, especially the self-governing Dominions, would be disastrous. Mr. Chamberlain said the policy aimed at two things, first the laying in of reserves, and second increasing in time of war the amount of food grown at home. The Government, he added, had plans worked out, and those plans would function as soon as hostilities began. Mr. Morrison had been more detailed and technical, explaining the means taken to keep the land in a condition of fertility so that output could be expanded to meet intensified demands. Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith has elaborated the details, but retains the basic principles adopted when the threat of war was neither so close nor so menacing as at present.