238 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [25 Apeil, 1917. 



The food shortage has been accentuatpd, too, by the ruthless German 

 submarine campaign, whereby hundreds of thousands of tons of shipping, 

 largely burdened with cereals and meat, have been sunk each month. 

 Finally, during the recent Eoumanian campaign, immense quantities of 

 foodstuffs were destroyed in the disastrous retreat through Wallachia. 



Evidence of the acuteness of the food position may be gathered from 

 the almost daily references in the cables, and from the speeches of dis- 

 tinguished statesmen. In the French Chamber of Deputies last week it 

 was stated that the shortage in the 1916 wheat crop of France was 

 130,000,000 bushels. If the whole of Australia's exportable surplus for 

 1916 could be transferred to France, il would barely make up the 

 deficiency in the French crop. 



The Position in England. 



Again, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Bouar Law, stated in 

 the House of Commons a few days ago that the British Cabinet had 

 informed the War Office and the Board of Agriculture that, so far as 

 Britain was concerned, it now regarded the production of food supplies 

 at Home as of more importance than the .sending of additional men to 

 the Army. 



This is a remarkable confession of the inability of British agricul- 

 ture to rise to the nation's requirements and supply the necessary food- 

 stuifs. 



In the early stages of the war the present Prime Minister stated that 

 the war would be one of attrition, and would be won by the side possessing 

 the most men, munitions, money, and foodstuffs. Britain has supplied 

 the money and men, and, through peerless organization, she has supplied 

 the munitions required for final victory. But, so far as agriculture is 

 concerned, she has been unable to increase her Home production during 

 the war, and has to rely on the Dominions and neutrals to make up her 

 shortage. 



The attention recently given by the Imperial Government to the 

 development of Home production, and the guarantees of fixed minimum 

 prices for foodstufl's for the next five years, and the numerous refer- 

 ■ences by Cabinet Ministers to agricultural problems, appear to indicate 

 a change of policy towards British agriculture. 



State Aid to Aoeicdlture. 



Agriculture has hitherto been regarded in Britain as a sort of indus- 

 trial step-child, Avith its needs subordinated to those of commerce and 

 industry. Britain has preferred to import her food rather than produce 

 it at Home. In this respect she ha.s followed an entirely different policy 

 from Germany. 



Germany, on the other hand, recognised the danger of becoming 

 over-industrial, and by her economic policy, her system of agricultural 

 education, the technical improvements she has made in agriculture, and 

 the widespread adoption of systems of co-operation and credit, she has 

 stimulated her agriculture to such an extent that she is able, on an area 

 two and a-half times that of Victoria, to feed a population of 68,000,000 

 people. 



During the past 25 years German agriculture has made remarkable 

 progress, while British agriculture has remained stationary, or has even 



