EASTERN FRONT.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 26 April 1917, Page 5

EASTERN FRONT.

RUSSIAN REPORT. Received 11.35. LONDON, April 25. A Russian official message states: Cossacks repulsed the Kurds on the 23rd near Seigner, in the Caucasus. Our cruisers destroyed the harbour works at Karasand. A torpedo boat sank three Turkish schooners, and our submarines sank two schooners in the region of the Bosphorus.

BSITi&HFOOD PROBLEM

GUARANTEED PRODUCE PRICES

LONDON, Aprii 24

In the House of Commons to-day Mr. Prothero, President cf the Board of Agriculture, moved the second reading of the Corn Froductica Bill.

Tins bill guarantees the price of oats. The guarantee is 38/6 per quarter from 1913 to 1919.. and 42/6 from 1920 to 1922 inclusive. The guaranteed

minimum price of wheat per quarter is to be 60/ for 1917, 55/ for the next

two years, and 45/ for the next three years. The guaranteed price of potatoes this year is £6 per ton.

He emphasised the necessity for

greater independence of foreign supplies. They must "make rural life more attractive. Eighty-two per cent, of the requirements for the next five years could be produced. The remainder could be made up by economies. In order to obtain this result it was necessary to increase arable land from nineteen to twenty-seven million acres, and a further quarter of a million men w-ore required on the land. Britain added 330,000 acres to her corn and potato areas this year, and Ireland 700,000 acres. Mr. Walter Runciman, formerly President of the B'oard of'Agriculture, complained that the measure wa s controversial, and was intended to lay a permanent foundation for an agricultural policy.

Lord Devouport (Food Controller), states that the latest estimate of Canada's exportable wheat is much below the reported 81,000,000 bushels. He denies that the British Government sold any wheat held in America.

NATIONAL GRANARIES ADVO-

CATED

ARMY BREAD RATION REDUCED

MEAT RATION INCREASED

Received 0.45

LONDON, April 25.

In the House of Commons the debate on the Corn Production Bill showed strong Liberal opposition to the proposal to guarantee the minimum prices to farmers. The Nationalists support the Government. Mr Runciman said the national security would b e better achieved by storing wheat in national granaries lidding three years' consumption.

It is reported the authorities are reducing the bread ration in the army owing to the shortage of wheat flour, but the meat ration will be correspondingly increased. The stocks of meat have been recently raised owing to the killing of cattle to save feeding stuffs, owing to the saving obtained by the system of meatless days.

DESTROYING HUN CROPS AD-

VOCATED,

Received 9.50

LONDON, April 25

Lord Calthorpe proposes that Allied aeroplanes should drcf) fireballs in the Rhine Valley and the plains to destroy' ! the crops. These are like tinder when ripe. The apparatus and experiments must be made immediately, as the ripe harvest in Germany begins in June. "