THE PEOPLE'S DIET.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17471, 3 June 1922, Page 15

THE PEOPLE'S DIET.

AN ENLIGHTENING PAMPHLET. (By C»ble— Press Association— Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Acaocjation.) SYDNEY, June 2. A pamphlet written by Mr Sawkins, statist to the New South Wales Board of Trade, dealing with the national diet, shows that the average consumption in I New South Wales of the chief descriptions of food fell in energy value per man per dav from 3005 calories in 1911 to an average of 2790 calories during the three years ended June, 1920. The fall was due in the most part to the decrease in the consumption of meat, which, according to the latest figures, is 40 per cent, helow the pre-war standdard. The consumption of potatoes has fallen 42 pe- cent. This fall is largely the outcome of high prices during the war, and probably a considerable portion of the decrease has been made up by the consumption of other foods used in place of those mentioned. The statist calls attention to the deleterious effects of a restricted diet. According to the pamphlet, in 1913 Australia consumed 2731b of meat annually per head of the population. In 1917-18 the average had fallen to 1621b, and in 1919-20 it had gone up again to 1731b. The statist adds: "No doubt it has gone up further recently owing to the cheapening of meat, but the habit of doing without it, which the' war produced, dies hard. Although the consumption of meat diminished enormously during the war, Australia is still one of the great meat-eating countries of the world."