BRITAIN'S FOOD SUPPLY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 146002, 7 December 1917, Page 8

BRITAIN'S FOOD SUPPLY.

CONFIDENCE FOR WINTER

(New Zealand Herald Correspondent.)

LONDON, Oct. 5. England faces the coining winter, the fourth of the war, with a confidence far snrnassinz anything she has felt since 191-1. Not only is the miht..iy situation promising, but the icai or starvation,' which wo know was very real last winter, is much abated. England's acres arc once more working for England, and the control of food supplies in the interest of the whole population lias become real and is showing results. Some prices hare already fallen considerably, and the _ clamour against "profiteering has practically subsided. . , _ . , Lord Rhondda’s regime at the Control of Food continues auspiciously. He is now on a new campaign in favour ot decreasing eating, and he says; —"H voluntnw measures fail, I shall npvo no compunction, in putting the nation on eompnh-nrv rations. the danger of the food situation lies not so much in the submarine peril as in the world shortage of cereals meats, and fats. The timely action of the United States Government in strenuously curtailing food exports to neutral countries should be of inestimable benefit to the Allies in Europe. But the tightening of the blockade is a two-edged sword. Imports of bacon and other products into the United Kingdom from Denmark are thcrebv bound to bo seriously reduced. This throws us more than ever upon the North American continent for onr supplies. What we ask from the United States and Canada we cannot procure elsewhere. “The information I have.” savs Lord Rhondda, ”'s that dnring the forthcoming 12 months onr minimum requirements in foodstuffs from the United States and Canada will amount to over ten million tons, and will represent an expenditure, without freight’ charges exceeding £2d0.000.000. Most of this will bo for the purchase of cereals, sugar, and meat.” The injunction to oat less bread, dating new almost a year back, remains as cogent to-day as ever, and the rationing of bread is maintained in pubhc eating places with great severity. _lt is stated that between tlw \. ■'inning of the vear and the end o: i fav the consumption was reduced by 22 per per cent., but since then there is probablv an increase. The loaf Las been reduced in price to 9d.. and is now sold strictly by weight—-which is enforced—and in standard shapes.

Sir Alfred Yapn, the now Director of Food 'Rconcmy.’in a statement on the nocessitv for greater ceonomv in-food said there was no occasion for panic, but there was need for strict eeonomv and there would still be need after the war was over.

There is another sonreitv of huttcr i~ msuiT districts, including London, a rf the Food Controllor reminds the nub’ithat since the great part of the butte eonsmned in this cnnntry comes from countries overseas, the supply is nocrc ssrilv affected by the present condition' of over-sea +rans.T)Opb. In order to pm vent the existing scarcity raising prior to a level out of relation to the ech of prodneiion and of transport, maximum nriccs were fixed last week. Arrangements n r e being made to secure the arrival of as regular a supply as possible during the winter. b”t in view of the groat demands on available tonnage for other articles of fond, it cannot he expected that the ordinary demand can bo supplied. The public are therefore urged to practice the greatest economy.

Tlio breakfast rasher 6cam« to be doomed for a while. The denletion cf stocks, which is normal at this time of year, has boon a gern voted l»v the decline in imports of bacon. Thousands of cottatro pigstys in the villages of this coimtrv hare been for a long time nntenaatod. the present cost of konptng a r>i" being too high for moat of' the sottagers.