MORE BRITISH FOOD CUTS LIKELY

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23289, 27 August 1945, Page 5

MORE BRITISH FOOD CUTS LIKELY

don Of Trade Policy Tapering Off Plan Sought By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright LONDON, August 24. Lerd Halifax will go to the | I'mted States at the request of Mr 1 Attlee ta discuss the effect of the ending of American lend-lease on I Britain’s economy. He will be : accompanied by Lord Keynes and representatives of the Foreign . Office, the Board of Trade, and the j I’red Ministry. li. W:i I’ir. :i<>n fuc Foreign F.eonomie Aclninii-trirer I.t > Crowley) sairl |: .: 'l.c Ui i'ccl States Government . 1.?,il re'.icn'reriiy sinletl that lend-lease I ire- r. ■ .-lint" measure only, and could i ■ ■ be con'mued into peaci -time. 'i . t" i.: ~ no ■■ .!•:: :":i < I a sudden I enciing of I' 1,-.- but a sudden end- ; ui.' <■- i'l." war with Japan. Mr < : >’• I • announced a reciprocal trade scheme under which the Allies

could niiike cash payments for goods or arrange credits through the Interre io: el Export Bank. Goods could also be acquired under an order agreement wi<h payments spread over 30 years with interest at 23 per cent. Britain’s imports from the United States rose 450 per cent in five years. Imports in 1938, when they were paid for. were £117,000,000, rising to £523.000.000 in 1943, excluding vast quantities of munitions supplied. The industrial writer of the “Daily Mail”< says that the figures illustrate I the United Kingdom’s dependence on l the United States lend-lease. Imports in IM4 totalled £509,000,000, which included £44.000,000 worth of meat, comi pared with £3.400,000 worth in 1938; £44 ' i .I) worth of dairy produce, comI pared with £200.000 worth in 1938; I £21.000.000 worth of other foods, cornre -ed with £10.330.000 worth in 1938. Are'"' " .n supplies to Britain in 1944 o: fats and resins, chiefly pi :■ -..j products. amounted to I'b.' ID. compared with £11.500.000 in 1..: Shipments of food to Britain alone is lie last three years reached a total cl more than 5.000.000 tons. The abrupt ending; of lend-lease j will directly result in cuts in food, I clothing, tobacco, petrol, and luxury j goods, for example, refrigerators I and other household appliances, stales the political correspondent of the “Daily Express.” j The decision has compelled the I Chancellor of the Exchequer (Dr. Hugh | Dalton > to order all Government deli ■. .•tir nts tc> re-examine the import : rind export nolicy of Britain, since I the trade balance will have to be cori reeled. Britain will have to drastically I cut down imports from the United i States and intensify the drive for exi port markets. This means that many I things which might have been available ’ for home use will have to be | exported. This means further cuts for Biitai i. British trade will have to be i directed to .the sterling area in order 1 to conserve the dollar supply. I The visi’ by l ord Halifax and Lord ! Keynes to President Truman will aim :.l a. tar off agreement by which I lend-lease will grac.r.ally cease. It is : (he ab’i'pt rr.dinc which has caused ■ C ■'■ inet knew nothing of . • dwision to dto i lend-lease until eesterday. Cabinet i l9 s ordered a comi ;■! wvoy of Bril iln's trade and

1 ■. '. ar : oh Some of the domestic ;,r< ::: irerc may have to be curtailed or postiionecl for a time, and the need l>o ' e dollars mire mean the cutting <l' imports o house parts and fittings i ■(>:•’. lhe dollar area, with a resulting i-.i. -"■ in the housing programme. I; . I Halifax the'-"fore, has been told ito i.ness for l a swift dec. ion by Mr '■ : •’> .- i ■ rmm'nt. Meat Now Available As a minor if welcome set-off to the I nil''. :••!:res created by the cessation of lfiv.i-1 e the simultaneous stoppage of . ■ : e lend-lease may mean that ' <• a iii-ii "lock l of me. i in Australia and w Zealai' i. •. hich the Americans w' i'll! h 'vo received, will now be available for Bi'itnin. states the Press As- | .sociali.in's 'l'b'iyist. Britain's supplies ol American films. t< b.icco and chopped

| ham will be the principal imports i affected. ; C; hinet iris received definite infori ma!ion about the cessation of lend- | le.'.-e and until the last 24 hours it was generally expected that there I v.< old have been a discussion on the I mo'.i sate factory method. It can be | comnietclv discounted that lend-lea.se jwi i..’. 1 not have ended if the Coni sew.. live Cowernment had been in • power. ; Three members of Hie United States 'Ho of Reoresentatives Foreign At'. : Commute ' emphasised at a ‘Pr - conference in London that Mr I Truman could not do anything else w end Irnd-iease. as he was only r ' • om 'he law. Mr Karl Mundt. ■ ihe committee would favour •or a ranuement if it were ■ r •• i o continuing sunphes. It was , im; :1 ijiow against Labour. The food I position in the United States was I getting serious: the cash-box was low and th.c cimhoard was getting bare. Position Must be Faced j Air Leo Crowley’s proposal that Bri- ‘ fain should borrow money in order ro i pav for goods supplied by America has I found no favour in Whitehall, which feels it would be a grave error to I accumulate war debt, says the diploi -yiaMc corresnoiident of the “Sunday ’ Exoress." It is considered that, even lif ibis means a further period of stringent austerity, it must be faced. “There is no cause for bitterness I over the sudden cessation of lendle<'se2’ said the vice-chairman of the Nuffield Organisation (Sir Miles Tlua'ms) in a speech. “It had to end some time. We must regard the cessaj tion of lond-lease as a challenge to I (lie indir.iry of our workers, to the ‘ I pm-pi':? i’v of our commercial leaders J a - in the wisdom of our newly- ’ t>pr.-wb'd political head.” Shock to Public ;'h< is- no doubt whatever that ’{fie F-'use Minister’s statement on i I lc)id-l<‘use and lhe grave warning I irom Mr ( hurchilL came as a pro’i ;o • d • hork to the British people, (he "Da:?.- Mail” in a loading darw-T. "Our of. the evils of wartime I iia. been the blackout by officials of

all kinds of information. Consequently, when the first announcement was made that American lend-lease was to be stopped the public here was no. undulv perturbed. It was taken for granted that the usual secet negotiations were progressing and something would be substituted to lend-, lease. In other words we were ompletely unprepared for Mr Attlee’s startling announcement that the termination of lend-lease was a sudden act by the United States, of which there was no previous warning so deeply ingrained is the habit of secrecy that even now officialdom refuses to supply information to the public. There can now be no question of military security involved in the issue, of the fullest possible information. nor is a plain statement of how we shall be affected likely to disturb Anglo-American relations.