THE NATION'S FOOD SUPPLY. 135 



as distant as the White Sea in the North and the Morocco 

 coast in theSouth — wasnearly £12, 000,000, and in addition 

 fish to the value of nearly £4,000,000 were imported, 

 i.e., landed by foreign vessels at British ports. On the 

 other hand, the exports of fish are valued at £7,650,000, 

 leaving apparently a little more than half the total supply 

 for home consumption. But the exports mainly consist 

 of dried or cured fish (herrings largely predominating), 

 and it would probably be reasonable to assume that if 

 they were expressed in terms of fresh fish the value 

 would not exceed £4,000,000, so that the net value of the 

 home consumption may be placed at £12,000,000, of 

 which one-fourth is imported. 



Next in importance to bread and meat comes dairy 

 produce. The total value of butter and margarine 

 imported in 1911 was £27,062,000, of cheese £7,140,000, 

 and of milk (mostly condensed) £2,071,000. After 

 deducting exports the value of dairy produce retained 

 for home consumption was £35,211,000. 



The value of butter sold by British farmers is not more 

 than £3,000,000, but if we add the output of butter 

 factories in Great Britain and the production in Ireland, 

 and make a rough estimate of the quantity made and 

 consumed by British farmers and private persons, the 

 total home production probably amounts to over 

 £13,000,000, or about 30 per cent, of the total consump- 

 tion. Denmark supplies about 23 per cent., Holland about 

 13 per cent, (mostly margarine), Australia about 12 per 

 cent., Russia about 8 per cent., and New Zealand about 

 4 per cent. 



It appears probable that the consumption of cheese in 

 this country has been materially reduced in recent years. 

 The imports per head of population in 1911 were smaller 

 than in the previous year, and about 1 lb. per head 

 smaller than they were ten years ago, but the reduction 

 of the home supply has probably been even greater. The 

 output of cheese by British farmers is calculated at not 



