FOOD SITUATION IN BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 224, 10 June 1918, Page 5

FOOD SITUATION IN BRITAIN

SAFE FROM MENACE OF STARVATION

BENEFITS OF NATIONAL

CONTROL

London, Juno 6. bpeaking in tho House of Commons, tho Secretary of tho Food Ministry (Mr. 0. A. Clyncs) made a statement on the food situation. Britain, ho said, carried heavier burdens perhaps than , any of the Allies. . She was responsible for her own food, 'and was also assisting other, nations. The benefits of national trading can now bo Been. II was probablo that wo would never liuvo been reduced to a shortage but for confusion such us had happened at tho end of 1917. Tho aim of tho Ministry waß to encourago home production. The control'of the wholesale distribution of milk had become a national necessity.' The bread subsidy must bo continued. If tho existing disciplino and self-sacrifico woro maintained wo would bo able to feel absolutely safo from tho monaco of starvation. Tho wholo British fruit crop must bo Teserved for tho jam manufacturers,, and it was.unlikely that any (Surplus frcslr fruit would bo available- for tho public. Tho Government had purchased tho wholo of the 1917 bitter orango crop in Spain and Sicily for marmalade, and two-fifths of tho output would bo required for tho ire-ops.- Tho manufacture of margarine in Britain had increased fourfold compared with tho production before the war. Wo were now entirely independent of ■ foreign imports. Our cold storago capacity had increased from thirty-two million cubic feelt to thirty-five million cubic feet, and an additional fivo and a half million feet was nearly completed. By the ond of the year tho cold storago spaco would be increased by twenty-five per cent, over what it was before tho war. Experts. predict that tho fruit crops in England aro likely to bo tho smallest for fifty years. Traders aro renewing the request to he allowed to import Canadian and American apples, and suggest that Australian growers should endeavour to get permission to ship fruit next season.—Aus.-N.Z. Cablo Assn.