Worst Food Crisis Since End Of War Confronting Britain

Wanganui Chronicle, 11 March 1947, Page 5

Worst Food Crisis Since End Of War Confronting Britain

Received 6 p.m. LONDON, March 9 When the Food Minister, Mr. Strachey, returns from America he will face the situation that Britain is heading for the worst food crisis since the v.ar ended, says the “Daily Mail.” The crisis is expected to reach its height in May, when there will be an acute scarcity of flour, bread, meat, potatoes and all kinds of fats. The fresh meat ration will, from March 10, be of inferior quality and, according to butchers, in danger of being reduced. Bread may be subjected to a further adulteration of basic wheat flour, and potatoes may be rationed.

National Farmers’ Union figures show that 30 per cent, of 2,500.000 hill sheep died in the blizzards. It is estimated that Britain altogether lost 1,000,000 sheep. The Farmers’ Union expects that nearly all the wheat sown in the autumn amounting to nearly half the normal crop, has been lost. The prices of wheat and meat in exporting countries such as the

Argentine and the United States are still soaring, and Britain is Sliding it increasingly difffcult to ifford them. With Britain’s idwindling dollar resources, the I position will be reached within a | year when it may be impossible to pay for the bare minimum of food j'mport requirements, unless the lvalue of Britain's exports can be 'greatly increased.