The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12.1918. FEEDING THE MOTHERLAND.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 425, 12 November 1918, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12.1918. FEEDING THE MOTHERLAND.

"We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice

THERE has recently been issued by the Government a most Interesting booklet, containing an account of the work of the Department of Imperial Supplies. It is entitled "Food-shipsfor Britain," and has been compiled by Mr Will Lawson, with a short introduction by the Prime Minister. The book is by no means a dry-as-dust register of statistics ; it is a readable and lively account of the part New Zealand has taken in feeding and clothing the heart of the Empire. Out of the total of over seventy millions paid to us by the Imperial Government, meat (twenty-four and a-half millions) and wool (twenty four and three-quarter millions; are the two principal items. Cheese, butter, hides, sheepskins, and even the übiquitous bunny, all go to swell the harvest we have reaped from the necessities of the Homeland. One of our most interesting exports (though only a small one, of £160,000) is the ■ scheelite ore, from which the remarkable metal tungsten is ob" taiued. As this is a new industry with us, any information about it cannot fail to Yl2 in!eresting. Gold is known as one of the "noble" metals, because it will not rust, and is proof against the attack of most of the acids which eat up " base'' m?tals n c- a hungry schoolboy does :\ pie. Tungsten is at least as reluctant to get rusty and as acid-resisting as gold, It is harder thnn the best razor steel —so hard tint Mie b?-t fi'e will not biL o;: it—a::d hr - ore third j

| more strength luau the finest I wrought steel. It yuii make a hre lint onnngli the best steel will run in it like water ; double the temperature, and tungsten still remains solid. Found in only very small quantities, tungsten is too expensive to be used in its pure state : but, in some marvellous way, hitherto unexplained, it has been found that a very small portion of it added to common steel will give the alloy all the virtues of pure tungsten. Hence its inestimable value to Great j

Britain during war-time. Great Brliain has not only to carry all these things home, but to bear the losses of ships and cargoes sunk by the enemy, as well as run the ordinary risks inseparable from long sea voyages. Altogether, she has lost twenty big New Zealand cargo boats, and three others were torpedoed, but successfully beached. It is well that the farmers who are dissatisfied because more is paid for Irish : butter in England than for Xew Zealand butter should take note of this. If the cost of these ships and their cargoes (paid for before leaving New Zealand) be taken into account, it will probably be fonnd that our butter is costing England a good deal more than the Irish article does. Xot all these lost ships went down without making a good fight of it. Two of them—the Clan McTavish and the Otaki—encountered the German raider Moewe, and each of them fought a very gallant battle. The magnificent defence made by the former, with her single Httle six - pounder, against the raider, with her four heavy guns and six light ones, rang through both hemispheres, and the execution done by the single 4.Tin. gun of the Otaki was a remarkable feat of gunnery. The gallant conduct of the crews of both ships show that " mercantile'' Jack is no whit behind his brother of the white ensign in courage and coolness. With this brief notice, we must leave "Foodstuffs for Britain," hoping that we have said enough to induce our readers to obtain the volume, and read it for themselves.