BRITAIN’S FOOD.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1921, Page 12

BRITAIN’S FOOD.

CHEAP RATES ESSENTIAL. “THE PRICE OF EMPIRE.” SUPPLIES FROM DOMINIONS. London, Aug. 5. The agricultural correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says this country is surely reverting to the days when British supremacy on the seas and the activities of the merchant marine brought to England the 122,514,426 cwt of wheat and flour; the 9,901,082 cwt of beef; 5,416,513 cwt of mutton; 6.447,746 cwt of pork; 499,593.1671 b of wool; 4,139,028 cwt of butter; and the 2,297,340 cwt of cheese, which were imported from British Dominions and other countries in the year prior to the outbreak of war. Those, and ot'hqr foodstuffs, are needed to-day, and the workers of industrial England can only be fed upon the comparatively cheap food they want—and have had in the past—and which is obtained through trade in exchange for manufactured goods. The development of food imports from the Dominions, which must follow, in the wake of better shipping facilities, will have the inevitable result of rendering British fanning relatively unprofitable, but it is “the price of Empire,” and the industrial workers of the kingdom are clamoring for cheap food. DAIRY PRODUCE. The development of the dairy produce trade will be better realised when it is stated that whereas in the years 18661870 the imports of butter and margarine per capita were 4.311 b., in the fiveyear period of 1906-1910 they were 131 b. Per person in 1866-1870 this country imported 14 foreign eggs, but in 1906-1910 it imported 49 eggs per head. In 1920 £24,6.‘14,294 was paid for imported butter. Denmark’s share alone was £ll,762,465. while New Zealand received £3,828380 for the 275,406 cwt. she sent over. Imported cheese cost £20,657,272 last year, against £15,170,620 in 1919, and £7,035,039 in 1913. New Zealand received £9,279,901, and Canada £8,814,530, for the cheese they sent last year. Of the £11,579,096 paid away for imported eggs last year, Denmark received £7,032,357 and Canada £1,478,933. GROWING DEMAND FOR MEAT.

Much could be done in Britain, says the writer, to prevent such considerable sums being paid away to Denmark for dairy products, and now that the British farmer realises that wheat-growing cannot pay him when he is ranged in competition against the farmers of the Dominions, he may turn his attention to doubling or trebling the output of his own dairy products, which is not impossible to-day. The real value of our grass lands has not yet dawned upon the English farmer. Their possibilities for beef raising and the making of dairy products have by no means’ been realised.

More prime British beef can be raised at Home if farmers will give closer study to their grass lands. That there is an incentive to them for feeding more stock is proved by statistics, which tell that whereas in 1861-1865 the per capita imports of meat were just under 61b, they are now eight times as much, or some 481 b per capita per year! Just how much was paid to Dominion and other meat producers for beef, mutton, pork, bacon and hams, the,following table shows:

All that money has gone to foreign countries. It is true the Argentine received £25,976,079 for her 5,557,021 cwt of chilled beef in 1920, as against the £3,085,628 received for 1,955,853 cwt sold to England in 1913, but Australia’s share of the 1920 beef trade was £3,496,373 for 836,989 cwt. and New Zealand’s £3,703,650 for 870,988 cwt. New Zealand received no less than £12,575,159 for the 3,075,128 cwt of mutton she sent to Britain in 1920, and Australia’s share of the mutton trade was £9,078,836 paid for 2,257,875cWt. Such figures make out more clearly the case for the Dominions as it will be put before the Premier. MONEY PAID FOR WHEAT. It is recorded that British argiculture changed its procedure when grains from the prairies and other virgin lands were marketed in competition with home-grown grains. From 1870, when imported wheats were so low in price that wheat growing became a losing business at Home, thousands of acres of the less valuable wheat lands were converted to other uses, chiefly to grass. Jn 1872 the acreage of ploughed land in Great Britain was at its maximum, to wit, 13,839,000 acres. In 1914 the area of ploughed land was 10,306,000 acres, or 26 per cent, less than in 1872, the difference being accounted for by a corresponding increase in the acreage under grass. The extent of the decrease in the production of wheat at Home will be best realised when it Is stated that some 54 pel cent, of the area which was devoted to wheat in the United Kingdom was gradually converted to other uses in the 40 years immediately prior to the outbreak of war.

From 1911 to 1920 millions have been paid to Canada, Australia, British East Indies, America. Argentina, and other countries for wheat, as the following

IMPORTED MEATS. Tear. £ Year. £ 1899 32,999,141 1910 43,068,246 1900 35,422,275 1911 43,822,267 1901 39,286,108 1912 46,520,644 1902 38,086,427 1913 55,127,982 1903 38,716,216 1914 61,179,165 1904 36,364,910 1915 83,389,025 1905 37;651,480 1916 92,101,268 1906 40,168,736 1917 101,617,445 1907 41,697,905 1918 173,795,739 1908 41,077,782 1919 173,893,874 1909 40,287,651 1920 140,524,068

table shows: — Year. £ Year. £ 1911 .... 3S.909.816 1916 .... 72,011,375 1912 .... 46,445,232 1917 .... 84,506,592 lf:13 .... 43,849,173 1918.... 53,167,786 1914 .... 44,471,473 1919 .... 68,422,509 1915 .... 5'7,313.171 1920 .... 146,844,754