DISASTER AHEAD WITHOUT FOOD

Chronicle (Levin), 11 October 1946, Page 8

DISASTER AHEAD WITHOUT FOOD

—Press Associatioii

Bv TelegravJi-

WELLINGTON, Oct. 10. History knew no disaster on the scale of that which was likely to ari>se if world food production was not inereased substantially and rapidly, said Dr. E. ytarsden, secretarv of the I)epartment of Scientilic . and Industrial Research, in an address to the Wellington branch of the Koval Society last night. All the resources of science and technology and the full cooperation of all meu of good will would be needed to meet the demand of a rapidly expandiug population in ('hina and Japan for more food. Dr. Marsden said that at the Commonwealth Science Gongress which he had recently attended in Britaitr as a New Zealand delegate, he had been impressed by the extraordinaiy relationship shown in problems of nutrition, public health, and population growth, especially as they affected indigenous peoples. Nutritional improvements, coupled with better public health services and the eradication of manv diseases at present causing high mortalitv, would cause heavy demands to be made on the world 's food supply. Could world food supply keep pace with world population growth? If the death-rate of eountries sucl) as India and China were decreased by the conquest of high mortalitv diseases, the world population problem became of tremendous significance, contiuued Dr. Marsden. "At present the increase of population in India is over five millions a year, but, with the eradication of certain diseases this will rise to 10 millions," he said. "In spite of this increase, the total production of food grains and the cultivable area has uot shown any increase over the last 25 years although the population has in ereased by 90 millions, or 33 per cent."