THE FOOD SUPPLIES OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1959, 8 April 1885, Page 2

THE FOOD SUPPLIES OF GREAT BRITAIN.

■■ —* The f ollowing. : which is clipped from the Live Stock Journal, furnishes some interesting particulars on the above subject : As much difference of opinion was expressed previous to the passing of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Amendment Bill as to its probable effect oh the food supply of the people should it become law, I am induced to ask the favour of your giving, insertion to the following .oxtract from tho official roturns for-the put year, m comparotl witli those fot» 1883, when foot and mouth diseaso was rife over a largo area of the Unitfld Kingdom, In that year the declared value of the imported live anhnato was £11,978,900. In 1884 it m £10,524,87u, showing a decrease of; £1,454,12}, The value of dead meat of all kinds, imported hi 1883 was £10,209,031, In 1884 'It 1 was £14,990,054, showing a decrease of £1,212,677. The decrease of dead meat was solely of bacon, salt beef, preserved meat other than salted, and salt pork. , There was a considerable increase of fresli meat of all kinds, and hams, The inl crease of mutton was more than 100 per ! cent, The total decrease oflive and dead , meat was £2,666,098, Jf to that amount ' is added the value of I.BQQ tons,.',the esti- , mated increase of consumption for the increase of population, say a million and a I half sterling, we have a total of upwards . of four millions ofth.e country's wealth saved bv the health of our flocks and , herds being maintained.

It is here interesting to note that up to the end of March there was an increase in the value of the importation of live animals of £302,174, But for the month of April, when the health of our own flocks and herds began to tell upon the market, there wbb a decrease of £46,796, compared with the corresponding period of the previous year; and that decrease has continued month by month until it amounts to the figures I have given. _ It cannot be said that the decrease in live animals is caused by the more stringent regulations under the Aot, as amended, inasmuch as nearly one-hall of the falling off is from Denmark, whioh is one of our nearest countries, and, being free from the disease,' animals from thence are allowed to enter the kingdom unrestricted. That falling off is solely attributed to the decrease in price on this side, as compared with that of 1883.

To the decrease in the price of corn in the United Kingdom may also be correctly assigned the reason of the great decrease iu the importations of corn during 1884 as compared with those of 1883. There .was a decrease of 16,966.446 cwt. of wheat, 1,190,011 cwt. of wheat flour, 3,600,491 cwt. of barley, 2,312,278 cwt. of oats, and 6,744,328 cwt. of maize. The imports of peas and fyeanj were about the same in each year;