CRISIS ON

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 56, 8 March 1946, Page 5

CRISIS ON

FOOD SITUATION IN GERMANY VALUE OF TEAMWORK Recd. 7 p.m. London, March 6. Lord Montgomery, in a speech in Edinburgh, in reference to the food situation in Germany, said: "If we weather the storm, as I think we shall, it will have been by teamwork." He said hp had been lighting a battle for Germany—the battle of winter—and it was just about to'be won. The crisis, he said, was now on. He said that a battle of reconstruction in Britain must also be won by teamwork. “The captain of our team,” he said, “is the Prime Minister, and we had our orders when he broadcast on Sunday.”

Lord Montgomery said that every time he arrived in Britain from Germany he found things a little better, but overseas “things are not so hot.” Speaking about the critical repercussions of the war on German child life, Lord Montgomery said that the rate of infant mortality was five times higher than in Germany before the war. As for what he termed the poison of Nazi doctrines, he said the, were working on a plan to bring about' a change in ten years. The difficult classes were those who were between five and twelve years of age when the Nazis came to power in 1933.

Lord Montgomery was speaking after receiving the Freedom of Edinburgh.

Speaking at the first meeting of the British zone advisory council, Lieut.-General Sir Brian Robertson, Chief of Staff to Lord Montgomery, said it was not part of Britain’s policy to allow the German people to starve. "We know that if the people are to work and to be led along the paths of democracy they must be fed," he said. "Reduction of the food ration has been forced upon us by the gravity of the world food situation and our inability to obtain more food.” Lieut.-General Robertson said that the- main part of the imports ot food and other commodities to the British zone was being paid by the British taxpayer, and the burden would not be accepted indefinitely. Food production in the zone must be stimulated to the utmost.