CHAPTER IV. 



THE EMPIRE'S TRADE IN ANIMAL FOODSTUFFS 

 AND FEEDSTUFFS. 



THE scattered nature of the British Empire gives rise to special 

 problems in the supplying of its requirements in foodstuffs 

 and feedstuffs from its own resources. Geographical con- 

 ditions tend to cause each of the more important divisions of the 

 Empire to follow a separate economic existence, to develop trade 

 relations with foreign countries independently of the rest. It has 

 been already observed that the British Empire as a whole has in 

 recent years produced wheat in quantities almost sufficient to meet 

 the requirements of its consumption ; nevertheless, in 1913, less 

 than one half of the imports of wheat into the United Kingdom 

 were derived from Imperial sources. The same peculiarities are 

 apt to hold in the trade in other bulky items of foodstuffs and feed- 

 stuffs which are produced in considerable quantities in the Empire, 

 and which are at the same time staples of the world's commerce. 



In order to ensure that the greatest possible quantities of food- 

 stuffs and feedstuffs produced in surplus in different parts of the 

 Empire shall be directed to supplying the deficiencies in these 

 articles in other parts, it is imperative that the lines of transport 

 by rail and sea shall be developed to the utmost. The advantages 

 of lower freight charges naturally cause bulky goods to be shipped 

 the minimum distances to a market. Russian barley, for example, 

 has found its way in large quantities to the United Kingdom, while 

 some of the surplus Canadian barley was exported to the United 

 States, and while farmers in the more distant parts of the Empire, 

 who might have grown barley, were prevented from doing so by 

 the impossibility of competing against producers more favourably 

 situated with regard to the British market. Not only, therefore, 

 has the surplus production of foodstuffs and feedstuffs, in which 

 the Empire as a whole is deficient, been diverted from certain parts 

 of the Empire to foreign countries, but the Empire's production of 

 some of them has been restricted by transport and market diffi- 

 culties. 



It is clear that this kind of interference with inter- Imperial trade 

 is most likely to occur in the case of the more bulky cereals and 

 feedstuffs, and least likely in that of the more valuable foodstuffs, 

 such for example, as butter. The trade in perishable produce, 

 such as meat, butter, cheese and eggs, over long distances is parti- 

 cularly dependent upon specialised and regular means of transport. 

 Even in meat there has been some interference with inter-Imperial 

 trade owing to the conditions imposed by geographical situation. 

 Thus, for example, Australian meat has been exported in consider- 



