BRITAIN AND HER FOOD

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8342, 31 January 1913, Page 6

BRITAIN AND HER FOOD

The issue of a new edition of Prince Kropotkin’s “Fields, Factories, and Workshops,” with numerous important additions, and the celebration just recently of tho author’s seventieth birthday, have served to bring the question of, Britain’s food supply into prominence. This is a matter that is, indeed, never very long, out of public discussion, and one that arouses deep concern in. the minds of most of the thoughtful men both of Great Britain and of Greater Britain. It is well known that an invasion of the United Kingdom would be quite unnecessary to conquer its people. Everybody knows that a successful blockade of her ports is all that would be needed te bring the nation face to face with starvation within a very few weeks. That is a painful fact for any Britisher to consider. It is, however, just as far beyond tho realm of debate as it is disagreeable. There is not at any time sufficient food in Britain to sustain the population for, probably, much more than one month. She imports her foodstuffs, instead of producing them, and the very existence of the population from the King himself down to tho humblest seamstress or the street vagrant, depends upon the safe arrival of food-carrying ships from abroad. This is a very serious situation; tho gravity of it is almost , impossible to exaggerate. But tho . worst has hardly been stated yet. Tho startling character of this great menace lies in two special circumstances—first, that the position is going from bad to worse in the continued abandonment of the land by tho people; and secondly, that the maintenance of that preponderance of naval strength that is necessary to guarantee tho safe passage of Britishborne commerce is becoming increasingly difficult owing to the growth of rival fleets. Fifty years ago inore than 4,000,000 acres of land in Britain was under wheat; In 1910 the wheat fields covered loss than 1,900,000 acres. In that period the population grew from 28 millions odd to about 45 millions. In other words while tho supply of homegrown wheat declined by more than 100 per cent, the demand becamd .as .much again. In 1860 the home-grown wheat amounted to 75 per cent, of the total consumption. The position has steadily changed until in 1910 only 28 per cent, was produced in the United Kingdom and 72 per cent, imported. The irony of it is that Britain depends for a great part of her food supplies upon foreign countries closely peopled themselves and whoso soils are less fertile than her own. She sends te Denmark every year somo £20,000,000 in hard cash, which gives employment to 150,000 Danish producers of jxnxltry, eggs, butter, and bacon. It Is estimated that Britain’s foreign bread bill alone is not less than £IBO,000,000 annually. The neglect of agriculture is one of the saddest phases of British national life. The steady desertion of the country for the townstho growth of giant factory cities at the expense of occupation or the land, which is man’s natural and best form of existence; tho labour-starvation of great tillable areas—these are things that every patriotic Britisher must regard with serious uneasiness. If the Mother .Country -is to prosper these movements must certainly bo arrested. Tile land must he restored to the people and tho people to the land. In this question we believe lies tho future task of the best statesmanship.