ITS LESSONS AND ITS WARNINGS 77 



was a scheme of national indemnity for the 

 owners of grain vessels captured or sunk by the 

 enemy. The Commissioners stated that "our 

 main reliance for a supply of food in war time 

 must be on our Navy and mercantile marine." 1 

 Every enquiry, however, and every discussion 

 of the subject prove conclusively that there is 

 only one adequate solution of the question of 

 food supply in the time of war, and that is to 

 produce our food at home ; and under the new 

 land system advocated in these pages this could 

 easily be done. 



CONSUMPTION OF WHEAT 



The total consumption of wheat in the United 

 Kingdom is as follows : 



Quarters. 



Produced at home 7,000,000 



Imported (including flour, expressed in its 



equivalent weight in grain) . . . 29,000,000 

 Total 36,000,000 



1 The events of the present war show that the recom- 

 mendations of the Commission, if they had been carried 

 out, would be quite useless to solve the problem. 



For particulars of the arguments and findings of the 

 Commission, see " Colonization of Rural Britain," Chapter 

 XXIII. 



For proofs of the futility of any scheme of storing wheat 

 in National Granaries, see " Land Reform," Chapter XIX. 



