UNITED ACTION ONLY REMEDY

Chronicle (Levin), 13 April 1946, Page 5

UNITED ACTION ONLY REMEDY

ACUTE WHEAT SHORTAGE LONDON, April 11. The Prime Minister (Mr. Attlee), in a stateinent in the House of Comihon.. j on the food situation, said that, whau j Sir Ben Smith, Minister of Food, wasj in Washington, provisional proposal.. j were made for a wheat distribution to ( the end of June. Unfortunately, supplies from the United States and other suppliers were | apparently now not coming in sufficien^ i quantities to meet those proposals. The shortage would affect not oniv j the conntries for which Unrra was ra- j sponsible, but also the United Kingdom , and other parts of the British Common- . wealth, as well as countries for which i Britain had no special responsihiiit;/, continned Mr. Attlee. The situatioxi could he met only hy united action by all countries. During the war the Allies had . de veloped a system for sharing resources for the common good. If the same principle were followed now the United Kingdom would play her part and uoi fall behind in her contrihution. Alternatively, Britain was willing to take administration measures to save wheat and flour, which would he comparable in their effect to those which the suppj.y ing countries were prepared to adopt to that the fullest contrihution might be made hy all to avert widespread starva tion. Britain was anxious to apply the same principle to oils and fats, said tlie Prime Minister, concerning which, hov/ ever, he was unable to make a stateriient at present, beyond saying that — ritain was doing everything in her power *o increase supplies from all parts of the world. Sir Ben Smith, addressing a Press conference, said there had heen some improvement in refrigerated shipp'ing. He would he ahle to lift all the supplies for which shipping was needed from New Zealand and Australia. The Evening News says that the United States refusal to ration bread may lead to a stiffening of the Cabuie attitude on further British food sacrifices. ,