SUPPLY OF FOOD

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21196, 20 August 1940, Page 6

SUPPLY OF FOOD

ON THE CONTINENT NO NEED FOR SHORTAGE NAZIS’ RESPONSIBILITY (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, August 18 The food situation in Europe during the coming winter, and the possibility of widespread starvation, is reviewed in the Economist. “First, may it be said that there need be no starvation, even in a Europe cut off from overseas supplies,” says the journal. It adds: “On a three-year average, from 1936 to 1938, the Continent was entirely self-sufficient in potatoes and virtually so in rye, barley, oats, beans and sugar. “Against production figures of some 42,000,000 tons of wheat, 19,000,000 tons of maize, and 1,000,000 tons of rice, the import figures were about 3,000.000 tons of rice. “Uniformly bad harvests, due to a hard winter, the calling of agricultural labourers to the colours, and the actual destruction of warfare will have increased Europe’s dependence on outside supplies, but there are large reserves to draw upon. Livestock can be killed off and tinned foods and Germany’s own stocks can be consumed. Nazi Leaders’ Boast “Nazi leaders boast of over 7,000,000 tons of grain stored away in the Reich, a figure which all but covers Europe’s normal deficit; and, although the peoples of the Continent must inevitably go short of tropical foods and certain luxuries, and suffer from a deficiency of fats, the forecast of starving is not warranted by the actual quantities of food likely to be available. “The problem, in short, is one of distribution, not of actual supply.” It has long been one of the main points of Nazi propaganda that her food position was perfectly assured and the British blockade thoroughly broken, yet there is evidence of a severe shortage in German-occupied countries. Stringent rationing is already in force in Holland—which, for example, lost to Germany 90 per cent, of her butter reserves in one week —and in Belgium and Denmark, whose pigs and poultry are being compulsorily slaughtered and sent to Germany and Norway. Further rationing is about to be introduced in unoccupied France. Britain Not Responsible The Economist points out that, although the British blockade is far from broken, it nevertheless cannot be held responsible for any food shortage in Europe. Prior to the occupation of Norway and the Low Countries, the British blockade, which then had been in operation for over six months, had in no way interfered with the flow of foodstuffs into these countries. The food shortage only arose in those countries when they fell under German control. Where neutrality was still operative, the blockade did not interfere with supplies of food. “Clearly, therefore,” the Economist continues, “it was no action of ours, but rather Germany’s violation of these various States’ neutrality which led to the present situation. “The Nazis must take full moral responsibility for cutting off the peoples they conquered from the sources of world supply; and at the same time they must fulfil the obligation, fully recognised in international law, of securing the well-be-ing of the territories they have occupied.”