FOOD FOR BRITAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 September 1941, Page 6

FOOD FOR BRITAIN

SPEED-UP IN” AUSTRALIA BUILDING OF SHIPS. VIGOROUS METHODS ADOPTED. Vigorous methods adopted by Australia in speeding-up the transport of her raw materials for Britain include the preparation of an Australian shipbuilding programme which, in time of peace, might have been considered to be impracticable. This move, with others taken by (he Federal Government. is described in a recent article by Mr Arthur Moorhead. "The German attack on British ships in the Atlantic has affected Australia as well as Britain." says Mr Moorhead. “And Australia, too, has faced up to the problem and is quickly finding an answer. It may be stated in few words —her shipping has been so rationalised that fewer ships carry as much or more cargo than before the war, her ship-building is becoming a vast national industry, and her scientists are bringing from the laboratories into the factories methods by which great food values may bo shipped in very small spaces. “As soon as the war started the management of ships coming here was taken over by the Overseas Central Committee, which is the British Gov-, ernment’s representative in Australia. Before this ships often wandered up) and down the coast for weeks at al time delivering and picking up cargoes; this was a great peace-time problem, because often the cargoes necessary to fill the space offering were as far apart as Cairns and Hobart, perhaps ’a thousand miles. “But when the Oversea Committee took control it so organised the whole of Australian transport that the steamer was unloaded and loaded to capacity at its first port of call. To accomplish this successfully the co-operation of traffic experts, those workers engaged in the actual loading and unloading, carters, shippers, and of course the ships’ crews had to be obtained. The fact that practically all refrigerated cargo offering has been shipped in the limited space available is proof of how successful this co-operation has been, “Next the Australian shipyards set to work to replace the lost tonnage and to take over certain sections of ship armament, which left British yards free for work they were better able to do. Particularly in the construction of small naval vessels have our shipbuilders excelled. “In Australian yards the method is

somewhat different from that in operation overseas. Hero the whole of the vessel, from the hull to the furniture, is built in the same yard; abroad, the hull often is built in one, the engines in another, and the fittings let out to a series of small contractors. “There has also been tremendous expansion in the production of naval armaments: in addition to the Government factories more than a hundredcommercial firms, with factories in all States of the Commonwealth, are nowengaged in the production of naval vessels, naval armament stores, or their components. “This section naturally did not reach

its peak of production immediately. It has hot reached.it yet. Every week more tools are being manufactured, more workmen trained, more-men and plant assembled for more production. “It is possible that the greatest factor in overcoming the sea raider will be the packing of food. Even before the war bulk was a consideration to Australian producers, who had to com-’ pete with those nearer the European market. The war therefore found ex-| periments well on their way. As an example let us take eggs: they were shipped in two ways. They were either carefully packed in shell in cases and carried as refrigerated cargo, or they were pulped, and frozen into a solid mass which was not melted out till it reached the cooks’ kitchen. Now we have a process for powdering eggs, which will also be carried as general cargo, thus saving the expensive refri-

gerated holds. j “The dehydration of vegetables, a | process which has had the effect of en- | abling submarines to carry food for indefinite periods, is not new to Australia and this process has nearly reached the stage where it will be a payable proposition to ship fruit and vegetables by air. “The powdering of apples, not quite the same as dehydration, is of great interest for two reasons, economically because the apple-growing industry has been one of the greatest sufferers from lack of shipping space, and medically because of the extraordinary food value of the powdered apple, it has been found that this powder, if added, to cows’ milk, will replace the lactic acid now used to make it suitable for infant food; and it will not curdle. As food for those suffering from gastric troubles it has certain qualities which cannot be obtained from any other food; and lastly it has all the food value of the ordinary apple, with but a small percentage of it bulk. “When we Come to meat packing we find that experiments are complete and the processes well on their way to com-j mevcial adoption, In the case of beef

the dried product generally is in pieces about the size of peppercorns; they /are pressed and packed in any waterproof covering and they too can be carried, as general cargo. So we haVe a saving of space and temperature before we come to the food value. Hebe we have accurate figures: a cubic foot of dried beef contains between 36 and 40,000 callories against only 26,000 in beef quarters in refrigerators. From this it will be seen that the amount of shipping space necessary to carry the whole of Australiifs production will be a great deal less than that of two years’ ago.