242 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



based on definite questions put to and answers 

 received from the Admiralty, which the Com- 

 mission records thus : — 



" We thought it desirable to appeal again 

 to the Admiralty, and accordingly we ad- 

 dressed a further communication to the 

 Board on August 5, 1904. We pointed out 

 to their lordships that for four-fifths of our 

 supply we were dependent upon wheat and 

 flour which came from abroad ; that during 

 the later part of the cereal year the total 

 stocks within the country could not be 

 reckoned with certainty at more than seven 

 weeks' supply ; and that even a partial 

 interruption of our supplies would in all 

 probability produce the disturbance of prices 

 indicated in the reference to the Commission. 

 And we went on to say this : ' The fleet may 

 be strong enough to warrant the conviction 

 that there is no reasonable fear of its being 

 unable to maintain our maritime supremacy. 

 But some of the members of the Commission 

 are apprehensive that, consistently with that 

 assumption, the fleet may be unable to give 

 effectual protection to the vessels carrying 



