FEEDING WAR-STRICKEN NATIONS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 70, Issue 91, 18 July 1944, Page 4

FEEDING WAR-STRICKEN NATIONS

THE immediate problems of food and sustenance following Germany's defeat are vast. It is estimated, after care-' ful analysis, that the minimum; needs of Europe for food, seeds, fuel, clothing, raw materials and medical supplies will run into 45,855,000 tons, without including anything for the U.S.S.R. or the needs of neutral countries, or .of such occupied areas as Norway and Denmark. These, supn plies are based on the lowest level of nutrition considered practical, and they will involve, the shifting of 23,485,000 tons from overseas, the balance being provided from Continental Europe. Long-term reconstruction imposes a fresh set of problems, and it is certain that the Prime Ministers have had a very difficult and, unenviable task in their endeavours to find a solution for them. The Empire Prime Ministers have been dealing with preparations to bring food and other vital goods to the liberated countries, in reviewing plans for getting stricken industries going ?nd for the repair of shattered towns. The of the task is almost beyond conception, and its performance will tax the administrative and constructional ability of the Allies with equal force, though in an opposite direction, to that demanded by the war. A good start has been made by the United Nations' Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories. These are esentially emergency organisations, designed to deal with the immediate problems of food supplies for the liberated areas as they are freed, the restoration of order after the Axis forces have been driven back to pave the way for the re-establishment of production and distribution. Both are gaining invaluable experience of the work of restoration of the devastated areas in North Africa and Italy, and when the time comes for the wholesale rebuilding of shattered nationalities the blueprints which they are now preparing and testing will help to speed up the work to a tempo which will help to restore early order the war-stricken nations

New Nurses* Award At its July meeting last week the Whakatane Hospital Board accepted the terms, of the: new scale of salaries under the nurses award. Recommendations in valuing the sum of £192 were received from the finance, committee and were unanimously adopted. Only Rehearsal "The present war will only be a rehearsal for $* more terrible combat unless greed is eliminated, religious disunity overcome and national boundaries levelled" said Mr Henry Ford recently. The New World must, in fact, begin with the individual; legislation, organisation and "charters" are valueless unless each member of the community is prepared to sink petty differences.

Back to Pick and! Shovel "The average price for eggs should be about 2s 3d or 2s 4d a dozen," said M,r T. Gill, chairman of the New Zealand Poultry Board,, in New Plymouth. "If a producer can't make poultry pay at that price he should get back to pick and shovel work," he added. Novel Use For Brandy A Thames hotelkeeper was surprised recently when, after a visitor had bought a glass of brandy in his bar, he dipped his handkerchief in it and began wiping his face. The man explained that he had gone t as an Arab sheik, to a fancy dress ball in Auckland the night before. The brandy was being used to remove the preparation with which he had kept on his false whiskers.