Feeding Millions.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13673, 15 August 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

Feeding Millions.

KOMAtf CSE 01? LOOTJCiIf S ?OODj, Never •& the world's befOTa'bas there been a Jxnga corflmTmity'of sis and seven millio'tis ' of,,•Jife6pl6 ; Jibing crowded ,together upon a- aiid entirely dependent for jfcheir food npoii: supplies from outside iJiai" T area (says 'the London Daily Mail). '7 ; -S ;. ; i London, which with its outer rings, and including also, the . enormous number of visitors now among ns, has a present total •of close on seven millions of inhabitantew produces nothing in the way of food stuffs itself.: If it were possible fop Lon r don to-be .beseiged.:as tarisvwas ia 1871* and cut off froinfree eommmdcaiioa with, the outside'world, starvation would begin to makeita.pains,felt at once. .'..'' that , London- eats Imre to be brought into'the metropolis. Milb'oris of people<all over ; the: world are engaged in- growing .the grain, and raising: the cattle, and catching fish, »hd loojdig af'ter the• poultry* and. tehding>l2ia -frnifc. antl vegetable?/which we consume day. by day. Yet most, of us never' give '.'a, thought to the' tremendously complicated bi gettihg'it-into our kitchens, and.so onto our breakfast arid dinrieV and luncheon tables. .'■■■ " '■'•■■■.- \:'. --V

We do not even know, most of nsy that the flour for our hot Tolls >ab breakfast was made from com which : last- year made golden the rich .prairies pfsWestern 'Canada; aid the milk-and creain came iinp yesterday from Somerset; thai the rolled:. oats for 'ant porridge w»r& imported" from the United States. The bacon -isr Dutch the eggs Danish, the butter Norman. -The fish were "caught in the North Sea.;'-The coffee ripened' in an Indian plantation. The oranges for the rparmalade grew nnder the burning sun of Spain. Sometimes as yon drive home lifte from supping" after the play you have seen in Piccodilly or along Kensington Gore huge carls, towering high with their burden J pf baskets','pacing slowly, their drivers"probably snoring, .towards, town. You sleepily recognise these for market-gardeners' carts, laden with cabbages,-, and potatoes,-, spinach, strawberries; or #aTad. 'But have you ever seen with your mind's eye their real significance? '•'■-■■'.-'■ 'lf yon told your driver to turn the horses' heads and to go to Coveiit Garden, yon would' fmd it already busy at 3* a.m. Tho carts yon saw are coming in one after another, and their drivers, still half asleep, .aire getting down to, put on the horses' nose-bags?' But ifhese are only a -small proportion I of""" London's daily" reqiih'enierife f-'ifo'sj) of the 'produce now comes' by train. market 'gardens around > London' have long ceased to'be able to supply a tjJhtli part- of the needs of the seven millions. Of the amount of produce- which passes daily through Covent Garden there are, unfortunately, no ;■ Tecords \ kept. The market is the property of the Duke of Bedford, and although the ••■ London -County Council have asked several-times

for particulars,; none - can be supplied. But it '"Ms"-, been calculated ; that L'ohdbn eats between-- two and three thousand tons of -potatoes •: a, 'day,, three quarters of a million cabbages, and irt the. season ten thousand pecks of peas and beans. • /'■As to the quantity of milk which London drinks';', no one will risk "giving even .an-estimate. All tlie railways hare thousands of milk cans. Most of them, run special milk .trains.■■ But these is no central' market.* for milk. It is consigned direct to theretailers: their carts meet the cans at the stations, and take it straight away to'the shops. A qiiarter of a million gallons at least, must-be poured daily down London's immeasxirabte;\ throat.' ■

Milk is liandled all daylong, but-bread which must. lie equally fresh, is a darkhour trade. Through the night in thousands of bakelionsesiv Sortie vast and- mechanical-, .others small and worked entirely by - hand,' London's "bread is kneaded arid moulded and baked. What, would you guess the daily output of loaves to be? Between .three'arid four millions is a, big baker's ; calculation. That is probably rather below' the mark. -■■