BRITAIN'S FOOD SUPPLIES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2233, 20 August 1914, Page 6

BRITAIN'S FOOD SUPPLIES

... - AN; INTERESTING REVIEW; , \Great Britain- is -reported by/cable to havo "at least four".months' "supplies..of cereals.on hand/but still there :are many at :tHe present moment, anxious-on the subject, particularly as . Britain has to .call in so ; .niany';<lirections for her foodstuffs:'/ . To • show:' tTiis . clearly. some'' pariticulaTs" contained in a", pamphlet: show : ing the sources ,of"' England's imported grain .supplies .and . the sea ' routes '. by • which'.' they' reach: the United Kingdom,' - issued .by Messrs.. 'Montgomery. Jones and of Liverpool, .should; Ije of iri-'-terest: It is/.there/stated that the' annual :■ grain imports avoraged I "during- the : past. three years'; 10,216,000-.' ton.s, valued at., ani 'consisted; of :5,7'M,000 tons, wheat and. flour, 1,989,000 ...tons "maiarf,:-1,160,000 tons I barley,; 899,000, tons '.oats, ; '138,000. tons, beans, peas, and rye, .277,000 tons meals and offals. These grain l supplies came, .from, the following coun-. : tries, of ' ,origin :r-India, ■ IiGOC.OOO tons; • Canada,. 1,207,000.;>t0n5; ' Australia. and New Zealand,'s2B,oooJtons; making 3,511,,000' toils possessions,' .Argentina' sent 1,985,000 tons; Russia,: 1,658,000 tons, ..United States; .1,486,000! tons; 1 Rumania, 590,000 tons;' various countries, 95G,000\tohs; .total, 6,675,000 tons. 'This huge'quantity came mainly- by 'three long.;sea' routes:—l. Through' Straits 'of Gibraltar—from Japan, China,; India, Pedsia, East Africa. Australia; and New Zealand,-' via Suez Canal; from the Azoff and' Black S'ea ports, through the Dar'danelles; and from Mediterranean-.coun-tries. 2.. Up the South Australia .and New' Zealand,. round the Cape,' only orie-thivtieth part' of Australia's grain shipm>nts, coming via Suez Canal; from the Pacific Coasts of North and, South.-'-America',' round the Horn; .from the 1 River Plate and Brazil, South Africa, and, the West\ Coast of. Africa. 3. , Across the North Atlantic—from Canada; from the. Atlantic^ports of United States; and from the Gulf of' Jlexico. The Pan-., ama .Canal. will probably , malce : No'. 3 I route more imprtant, while reducing the volumo of trade by Nos. 1 and 2 routes. The total annual quantities by each sea route and the periods of heaviest "movement vary according to o'utcomo of harvests,. but during the past, three' years ■they have been as follow:—(1) Gibraltar' ■route, 4,478,000 tons, April to December; .(2) South Atlantic; .2,796,000 tons January to October; (3)V North Atlantic, 2,696,000 tons, May to November. The grain fleet actually afloat on Juno 1 consisted of 303 steamers and 105 sailing (vessels.. Of the steamers, 69 come via tjio .Straits of Gibraltar, 182 are steaming up the Soiith Atlantic, the remaining 52 across the Vorth Atlantic. All the 105 sailing vessels ;re coming up the South Atlantic from Australia and the Pacific. The figures deserve careful attention and afford a "useful illustration of the danger that threatens frqm the present deplorable system of oapturo of privato property sea.