280 PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION 



do the people of other parts of the world. This statement, however, 

 is subject to some qualification, owing to the fact that the beef 

 and mutton produced in the United Kingdom, which forms an 

 important part of the total meat consumption of the Empire, is 

 not raised by any means entirely upon pastures. 



These conditions are due to the fact that, whereas the Dominions 

 are unsuited to intensive animal industries, owing to their unde- 

 veloped state and their small production of concentrated feedstuffs, 

 the United Kingdom, which is geographically and climatically 

 well suited to such industries with the assistance of imported feed- 

 stuffs, has made comparatively small use of its resources in this 

 direction. In any case, the great weakness of the British Empire, 

 so far as concerns the production of animal foodstuffs, arises from 

 its deficiency in concentrated feedstuffs, and in fodder crops such 

 as alfalfa, which are essential for fattening purposes. From this 

 arises its striking deficiency in pig-meat and lard, in poultry pro- 

 ducts, and to some extent also in beef and dairy products. The 

 first two of these depend for their production, absolutely upon 

 abundant supplies of cereal feedstuffs, while that of the third and 

 fourth is possible only on a limited scale, except in regions of 

 specially favourable climate, without the employment of concentrated 

 feedstuffs for winter feeding and for fattening. 



The position of the British Empire with regard to feedstuffs is 

 shown in the table below, in which the first two columns give the 

 average imports of the various cereals and feedstuffs into the 

 United Kingdom in 1911-13 from foreign countries and from 

 Empire sources respectively, and the last two columns give the 

 quantities estimated to be available for feedstuffs, separated into 

 the same two divisions as regards origin. The figures have been 

 compiled from those given in (Cd. 8123) and net imports have 

 been taken proportionately wherever the re-exports were appre- 

 ciable. 



From the total of approximately 76J million cwt. of feedstuffs 

 for food animals imported into the United Kingdom from foreign 

 countries it is necessary to deduct the exports of milling offals, 

 amounting to about 5 million cwt., thus leaving a total of 71 j 

 million cwt. This, however, does not accurately represent the 

 deficiency of the Empire in feedstuffs, owing to the net exports of 

 wheat from overseas parts to foreign countries which have been 

 estimated at about 49 million cwt. annually 1 and would contain 

 an equivalent in feedstuffs of about 16 million cwts. The other 

 items of imports and exports of feedstuffs, or of feedstuff equivalents, 

 from the Empire to foreign countries and vice versa may be taken as 

 roughly balancing one another, 2 The net annual deficiency of 



1 Dominions Commission, Final Report (Cd. 8462), p. 186. 



2 Among the exports of such materials not accounted for are the net exports 

 of grains other than wheat from Canada, and of oil seeds and nuts from India 

 to foreign countries ; against these, however, the considerable net imports 

 of maize into Canada have to be reckoned. 



