FOOD PRODUCTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 May 1942, Page 2

FOOD PRODUCTION

POSITION IN AUSTRALIA EXPORTS TO GREAT BRITAIN TO CONTINUE. IN SPITE OF INCREASED DEMANDS. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 9. “Despite increased demands ’ within the Commonwealth of Australia we will continue to send great quantities of food to Britain,” stated the Federal i Minister of Supply, Mr Beasley, in the House. “They say they want food; we will strive to the utmost to -supply them,” he added. . The Minister was speaking to a motion that the House adjourn to discuss the “inevitable decline in the production of vital foodstuffs,” because of labour shortages. The motion was talked out. “Enlistments in farming districts have been too high for safety,” states the secretary of the Primary Producers’ Union, Mr L. J. Shute. “Production is suffering seriously as the result of the call-up of key men, most of whom are farmers’ sons. Local committees are needed to assist manpower authorities to decide every application for exemption on its merits.” Potato-growers complain that the price of £lO a ton offered on contract potatoes is unpayable. They have been informed that the Federal may commandeer land if growers refuse to co-operate.