Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1917. THE MENACE OF THE MOMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14284, 28 April 1917, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1917. THE MENACE OF THE MOMENT.

Undoubtedly the effect v of the. submarine campaign on Britain's -food sup? plies is giving the people at Home much concern. v l'he.. fact just disclosed that the submarines accounted for fifty vessels during, the past .Aveek is certainly alarming,' 'though it does not afford 1 justification for the wave of pessimism that seems to be running m certain circles. The task confronting the Navy is undoubtedly, great, but it' cannot- be faced by merely .sitting doAvn and howling out for more vigor. at the Admiralty. We nay be qtfite sure that the Navy is ' putting its.- whole mind and vigor into its work of--: grappling /with the menace. Thc sailors ha\'e a clear knowledge of the difficulties before them aud they have not disguised their opinion that it is futile to hope for an early success, (•"ir Ed AVard Carson's recent reference to the subject made, that clear and led the public to expect severe losses 'for some , time yet, and 1 that. the issue must depend oh the Avill and capacity of the nation to "stick it out" for several trying months. "Judgihi? by.the questions which intelli-gent-and well-informed people ask," I writes Mr- Gerard, Fiennes^^t-he-. naval ; expert of ;. the-VOb'^ver, "it .Would seeb , that the riiethpds.of submarines are very ( imperfectly .-uhderstood. Sir.-. Edward; : Camn told the. Bouse tliat he was ask- - ; ed if they-;did -not havo to come to the -j surface tc' f fire their torpedoes. And it is .

a. constant matter for surprise to other Cnt°nf hV^ Can S6 ' ° Ut ° f the jiiigit of Heligoland m face of our mineheld and patrol. Some people even suggest that the. minefield is bluff It seems almost too- elementary to have to state, at this time, of day, that a submarine can travel for long distances under water without even showing her periscope, that no minefield, laid across the mouth of tlie Bight of Heligoland, with neutral waters on each side, could possibly stop the U boats from getting out., and that, once on the track of shipping, they need show no more than a few feet of periscope m order to use their torpedoes. If it was hard to track the Emden and the other German raiding cruisers on the surface of the water, how much harder is it to discover the whereabouts of vessels which can assume the Cap of Daikness at will? Until tlitpanacea is discovered (if ever it is), there are only, three things for it: Patrol craft and evel* more patrol craft, guns and gunners m the merchant .ships, and careful regulation of traffic. Luckily, the iU boat- has the delects of her qualities. So long as she cannot be seen, she can-not-see very far." The most satisfactory element of the situation is that unjdoubtedly many of the U boats art )>eing captured and sunk — more than it js expedient to tell — ami this toll taken pf the pirates must m the long run act as a deterrent to Germany, for it will l>e difficult to keep up the supply of "crews if- not of craft if the captures go on. "Give the Navy time to perfect its measures," adds Mr Fiennes, "place no obstacle m the shape of outworn animosities m the way of the' use of all the pram-power and energy that it can summon to its service, and there need be no idoUbt whatever of ultimate success. But there must be no whimpering or impatience. .The Navy ha^s got more tasks than one m hand, and each is of vital importance, calling for all its energies and intelligence. The sailors at the Admiralty and! afloat must be allowed to judge the correct disposal of the means m. their hands, and the nation must back them with loyal trust." As regards the food situation, placed m such evijdent danger by the depredations of the submai*ines it is the duty of the public to assist by a most , stringent restriction lot" consumption, writh the -object of making the available, supplies spin out to the largest possible extent. People m England! haye been placed ''lon their honor not to exceed ascertain standard scale of .dietary, and. to -their credit,' ...be it said, they have succeeded m very largely reducing consumption. But the problem is now becohiing so grave: '.that further reductions are. 1 imperative, .ana V.it is probable,that the (government will be forced to introduce? some compulsory method 'of, rationing the people. The sooner it is .faced the better. The people^ Are feel sure, will not be dismayed by privations but Avill endure the restrictions cheerfully, with, true British spirit, m the knowledge that by so doing they are assisting the country over the gravest crisis m ,its history. They know they are fighting the most insidious danger which ever threatened the .shipping and the supplies of the 'British Isles. Foi* all fundamental' purposes touching the sustenance of the people and the power to maintain our armies m unimpaired efficiency it is necessary to di'aw in' the belt and effect economies wherever possible. All luxuries and superfluities must go; everything that is non-essentiai ijnust be discarded. "Every ton of merchant shipping still available for general traffic," says the Observer, "must be fused for. the winning of , tlfe war and the staple products of the people. It means, as Mr Lloyd George has pointed out," enormous sacrifices on the part of every class m the community jancl the National Government is going to be tested m earnest. There is no ; doiib't that, "the British Army will conquer dn } the end. The country ijiustin the meantime hold on and: win." We, aye sure .that the feelings of every per- 1 son m New . Zealand 1 Who . reads m today's paper of the gravity of the problem confronting the Homeland will formulate themselves into the question, ''How „ can we help?" Here are we m ICe'w Zealand living m a land of plenty, with abimdanoe of rich nourishing food, • and on the other side of the world our kinsmen are going short. Even the' rations of the soldiers are to be reduced. ' We would send more of oin* - produce, -but how can we with, the "limited amount of shipping available for the trade between this country and England? tt is* possible that; some of the vessels carrying merchandise between America and, Australasia couldl be spared to take foodstuffs to Britain — certainly we could put up 'with a restriction m the imports of petrol and motor, cars. The Government should certainly set its Efficiency Board, promptly .to work on the subject of what are essential imports,^ m order t that ships coming f rom. . foreign ports' may be diverted to Britain. Beyond that we fear we -can do very little. New . Zealand must look to the matter of sup- ' plying her own requirements m cereals. I She should be able to produce sufficient • wheat, oats, maize -and... barley' to -feed her population and avoid the necessity of drawing on Canada and Australia as m previous years. The lesson that Britain is: now learning so painfully, shodld not be ignored by any nation— the supreme importance of making a country self-supporting. For the cumulative folly, of two generations m letting English wheat fields go back to grass Britain is now paying dearly and she would pay for it with national death if means' could not be devised for coping with the evil now threatening her aiid ior restoring agriculture to its former position. "In a word"." writes Mr J. L. Garvin, "what Aye .have re-discovered is the primeval fact that, the food question is at the bottom of every othei* question, big and little; that- everything else is biiilt oh the food supply ■'; 'thai here, as elsewhere ■ V the best use of our 'own land at home must be the foundation of society; and that this necessity must .henceforth come first m. the war and after the Avar, no matter ay hat else comes second. .Take. Avheat- alone and compare the f olloAving>figures :— ;.; ■ ..---_,*- . . . Wheat of the U.K.•Year. Home-P roduce.- Imported. 1842 •• 22,000,000Qrs 2,970,000Qrs 1914 7,300,000Qrs - 29,220,000Qrs In; 1842 the island Avas nearly selfsufficing, when' Peel described ioAv-culti-vation was' seen 'climbing to the top of every hill. When harvests Avere bountiful jive produced nine-tenths of the wheat ayo >. required;; Avhen harvests AA'ere splen- j did our -own i. soil brought forth all but ' a tAventieth part of our. total consumption. We Avere.; invulnerable m Avar, The situation changed until Aye grew. at home only a fifth, part of our needs and were utterly dependent on shipping for the rest — that is, for- our- very -life. As the decades Avent oil acres by' the million went out of cultivation and went back to grass. There Avas less aiid less employment for human hands and skill on- the soil and less ancl. less safety for the nation. Between ,four and five million acres which formerly produced human food m the shape of cony and crops — enough to strengthen the national food resei'A'e by nearly' fifty per cent.— 'have not been broken by the plough Iwithii"*" tne memory of mail. In the "whole, (world outside our free-importing shores ■nothing- -like this logs of cultivation -.has' been known. Taking .England . alone pasture now predominates over arable to such an extent that hardly a : third of the total surface of the country is tilled. No Avonder the Germans fixed their hopes and. fix them still, , on the submarine menace." But the. Germans have -miscalculated on the British spirit. The nation* is striving at the .eleventh hour to repair the deficiencies of the past, and by planting, large areas, building more ships, and: keeping up an incessant war on the pirates Will surely win out. . i