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Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 959, 8 March 1917, Page 6

"Grow food," cries Dr. Newman, almost hysterically, "and leave the flowers alone." Perhaps the doctor is unduly alarmed. The situation may not be so grave as he told those people in the Wellington Town Hall on Tuesday night, but it calls, cer-

tainly, for industry and careful organisation. It cannot be doubted, as The Sun has again and again pointed out, that if every householder were to use his present available ground to the best advantage, the cost of living problem would be eased appreciably. Already one notable innovation is under way in connection with Lancaster Park, and most would admit that very much more could be done. It has to be pointed out, however, in connection with the Lancaster Park venture, that the primary reason for bringing the land under the plough is the threatened insolvency of the company that holds it. It is not to be rashly assumed that every open space in and about our city should j immediately be cultivated, or if it were, that the community would gain anything. Apart from all other considerations there is no more labour available for cultivating Sydenham Park, say, than for putting in wheat at Geraldine, and further than that, as every farmer knows, labour alone will not produce anything. It is true, as Dr. Newman says, that many parks and public reserves in Britain have recently been broken up, but it is also true, as readers of this week's exchanges know, that most of the leading papers in England have found it necessary to sound a warning against a zeal for digging that has quite outrun discretion. There, as here, the most effective way of meeting the food shortage is to increase the output from existing sources, and that is the biggest problem in the Empire at the present hour.