The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1917 WAR AND FOOD.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 271, 1 May 1917, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1917 WAR AND FOOD.

" We nothing extenuate, nor tet down auaht in malica."

The scarcity of food with which England is threatened as an outcome of ruthless submarine operations on the part of tile o;;. :ji j n - n hardly ho realised in Now Zvdand, where, tihdtoVi'i' p'nehis hay. bicn felt in connection with the war.

arti'-los ol dint are as plentiful is ever. In Knpland, however, with

its tf-nn-Tig population, a hrg" pre portion i.-f whom at the 1.0. : i ' times art- i( nit:ly fed for pouit, (pi\.dieally unknown m tliis country) is always pr-va'ent, the situation is alarming to a fWre". !•■ '-• - r-v to be "is- - ft. v the evrt, ! uf a wiiW in :■'! T. g!i.-h paper v. 1! : on, up the pt.-hion in the following words, viz, "' have ii" ht.-italii n in saving the hind in this country is capable of producing it v>rv niicdi larger proportion of our re<|U : rements 'ban i! now does Firstly, by iii.i\ijig cultivation more U'lniinei'afive. Secondly, b\ legislation n l!i it land now devoted to golf links, and other lands now producing lathing should bo brought into cu!ti\ation, and by making provision for the greater com foil and homing and better remui.oiation to the faun labourer, which can only bo broiighl about by mak" * capita' ai I lah n>>' pmb<i v\„i\ in n !" rill rum nio-e rnnnnprctive i

have boon living in a tool's paradise. For the last forty years land lias beon continuously going out of culti-

vation, and now the war lias revealed to us the folly of our past dependence on imports. There is now no immediate royal remedy; the nation lias to face the music and to trust in Providence. The cause may be attributed to fifty years of abnormal commercial prosperity, which, together with cheap freights strangled ed British agriculture in the eighties, and drove a large percentage of our skilled farm labourers into the towns. Our school teaching in the rural districts has not been in i\v direction of thrift and the nobility of honest labour, resulting in n tendency to blind-alley occupations and overcrowding in our cities." With a view of helping the Motherland in her time of need it is imperative that this Dominion should in every possible way aid in providing the necessities of life. Tlie call to arms has naturally tended to reduce supplies but there has in certain cases been an inclination probably produced through a want of realisation of the gravity of England's needs, on the part of the owner " called " in the ballot to adopt a " let the farm take care of itself" policy instead of in his absence attempting to arrange through relatives or friends or per the medium of the Efficiency Board for producing rjuilities to be maintained. There should bo no standing still in these time 3. Money is not the absolutely essential article, particularly as in the last war loan in England the money that was immediately needed poured in likp a golden ilood. It is men and food that are wanted and that is where the people of New Zealand should be prepared to play their part in the gigantic struggle that is approaching its climax. Wheat growing, as requested by the authorities, is one way in which valuable and allimportant assistance can be rendered.