MAGNITUDE OF HOME PRODUCTION 7 



Thus of the main articles of food selected for com- 

 parison (the value of which was £172 millions in 19 13 

 out of a total of £255 millions) the quantity imported 

 fell in 1915, the war year, by 22 million cwts. or 9 per 

 cent. ; but the cost to the country rose by £65 millions, 

 or 38 per cent . Various articles have been omitted from 

 this comparison because of the difficulty of bringing the 

 quantities into line — e.g., eggs — or because the imports 

 could not be replaced at home — e.g., sugar — but if we 

 consider values alone the £290 millions paid for food, 

 drink and tobacco in 1913 became £382 millions in 

 1915, an increase of 32 per cent, in cost for a smaller 

 quantity of goods. A greater home production of 

 food would relieve both the foreign Exchange and the 

 freight market, which as we have learnt to our cost 

 becomes in war time preoccupied with the movement 

 and supply of troops and the carriage of materials 

 indispensable for munitions. 



The burden of the food bill and the extent of our 

 dependence upon foreign supplies falls into better 

 perspective if we consider it in connection with the 

 domestic production. Estimates of the amount of food 

 grown in the United Kingdom can only be very approxi- 

 mate ; the best data available are those contained in 

 the Census of Production for 1908 (see The Agricultural 

 Output of Great Britain and The Agricultural Output 

 of Ireland, 1912), which may, without much error, be 

 set alongside imports for 1913 because no change has 

 intervened to vitiate the general comparison. The 

 following table, No. Ill, gives for the main articles of 

 human food a comparison of the imports from foreign 

 countries and British Possessions with the estimated 

 production for sale in the British Islands. 



