The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1945. Europe’s Winter Prospects

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23261, 24 July 1945, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1945. Europe’s Winter Prospects

| I dors not take Ion" lor (lie into cluing,*. Bv the lime tin- \<-w Zealand winter has pa>srd llirouyli spring to summer l.urope will again he gripped In winter perhaps the most tragic winter the ('onlinen; has ever known. The,chief <>f the I \KR \ mission to ugo-lavia liasaid that ol would dir this winter unless more food was sent Io them. The people ol Jugoslavia, he added, knew that it was alrradv 100 late Io save all. and thru onlv concern now wa> Io make lhe death roll as -mall as possible. "Il lhe cilizen- of \merica. Canada. I .al in-America. South \lri< a. \uslralia and \ew Zealand. he continued, "could see the plight ol l-.urope lhev would not re-: until thev seemed I rom their (,ovrrnmrnls curtailment ol their own consumption so that fewer propb* would starve in I.mope this winter.* \\ r are living in "one world." lhe late Wendell W illkir stressed convincingly lhe inter-di'pendence of all parts ol the conteinporarv world and ais conception of the uiiilv of mankind has been accepted without iTaestion. This is the conception Upon which the hopes of a war-free world are built, but if there is Io be unitv for peace. there is a -till greater call lor unitv to preserve lilr in countries which have been -wept by war ami which are awaiting reconstruction in a more hopelul future. What oilier countrie- max or mav not do cannot matter Io \ew Zealand. I his coiinlrv has ils own dutv 100 plain to !><• ignored. In the future \ew Zealand inu.-t produce much mon* food than ever before. How this mav be ilom* is not merely a question lor the Government Io decide: Io some extent it will be determined hv lhe Government. but in collaboration with all people who control production or who participate in any way in production. I his great humane c ause cannot be helped bv hairsplitting statistics. Il is not enough lor lhe Prime Minister or the Minister ol Agriculture to produce figure's purporting to show that over lhe pasl five years this eonntrv produced more foodstuffs than it did in the previous five’ years. Six. seven, eight, nine vears ago millions in Europe 1 were not threatened bv star vation. To-day they arc. In a lew months lhe bodies ol thousands ol men. women and children will be put awav in common graves in Europe. I lu* worlds producing countries have 1 it in llirir power Io fix lhe* number ol victims claimed bv famine, food cannot be produced immediately, but this country, in common with all others, should consider what can bt* made available to Europe from existing store.-. Mr W. Hankes \merv, leader ol the British food Mission in Australia. has said that Britain could now provide ships for all the food Australia and Xevv Zealand ran supply. Since the* -hips are* available lhev should be semi spce*dilv and regularly on their errand ol merev to Europe* before lhe cold weather strikes. This is not a political question: it is a lest of the decent y. generosity and humanity ol Acw Zealanders.