PRODUCTION IN WAR

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21035, 10 February 1940, Page 20 (Supplement)

PRODUCTION IN WAR

EXPERIENCES OF 1914-18 ADVANTAGES OF IRELAND While during the last war, Ireland’s shipments to the British market were not only well maintained, says an Irish exchange, but, in many cases, substantialy increased in the war years, the increase in livestock exports involved a drain upon livestock capital reserves. This become so serious that the authorities introduced regulations governing the export of certain classes of stock. It has been suggested that during this war fewer breeding heifers should be exported. During the last war, Demark sold to Germany in 1916 three times as much butter, eleven times as much pork and bacon, and nearly 20 times as many eggs os before the war. while its shipments to Britain were largely reduced. On the outbreak of the unrestricted submarine campaign the Germans threatened to cut off Danish exports to the United Kingdom altogether. and the geographical situation of the Danish ports gave reality to the threat. Direct sailings became very dangerous, and, though Denmark made some effort to maintain trade through shipping via Bergen, her exports to Britain had by ioiS fallen in value to between onequarter to one-fifth of the pre-war figure, and this despite the sharp rise in prices in the interval. The proportionate shrinkage in supplies to Britain was no less marked in the case of Holland, whose geographical situation exposed it to an especial degree to German pressure. Export Capacity In an effort to estimate Ireland’s present export capacity, the figures furnished by the Irish Banks' Standing Committee that farmers in Eire at the end of January, 1937, had on deposit with the banks £35.6 million, or nearly three times the total amount of £12.6 million they owed the banks on the same day, are quoted. Irish farmers, however, have always held that this 35 million pounds to their credit was largely hypothetical, and in no way represented their present financial position. As a result of economic factors Irish live stock exports have declined within recent years, but the writer in the Irish exchange thinks that "the export trade will doubtless quickly recover its former importance if only as a result of the opportunity presented by the inevitable war-time shrinkage in competitive food supplies in the British market. The extent of this opportunity may be gauged from the fact that in 1933 Denmark sent to the United Kingdom over seven times as much butter, six times as much bacon and hams, and 41 times as many eggs as Eire. While taking her live stock exports into account, Eire ranks after the Argentine as the principal supplier of meat to Britain. She supplied last y?ar no. more than 7.3 per cent of Britain’s imports of bacon and hams, only 8 per cent of her egg imports and less than 3} per cent of butter imports.