112 THE MINORITY REPORT 



no home source of supply, the importer can force the 

 consumer who cannot do without the article to pay 

 the freight in the shape of increased price. And there 

 is no doubt that if the extent to which this country 

 produces its own food can be substantially increased 

 there will be less danger of a rise in price due either 

 to higher freights or to increased demand from any 

 market on the year's world crop. 



47. Moreover, the enhanced prices of food have con- 

 tributed to the heavy excess in the value of imports 

 over exports which has caused so much anxiety. For 

 many years to come, the change produced by the war 

 in the balance of our financial relation to certain foreign 

 countries, especially the United States of America, 

 will make it desirable to reduce, as far as possible, the 

 excess of our imports over our exports. It is probable 

 that in no other way could imports be so easily reduced 

 as by increasing the produce of the land of the United 

 Kingdom. 



48. Discussing the mihtary reasons for increasing 

 the supply of home-grown food, Lieut.-Colonel Sir 

 Maurice Hankey, K.C.B., Secretary to the Committee 

 of Imperial Defence, pointed out to the Committee 

 that the weak point, " the Achilles' heel," of this 

 country in the matter of defence is its dependence 

 upon imported suppHes, and that while the cutting off, 

 for a time, of the imports of raw materials for industries 

 would be serious, the Nation could tide over such a 

 period, provided it had adequate suppHes of food. 

 Surprises cannot be eliminated from war, and the 

 present war has not only provided a large number of 

 surprises, but has suggested the possibiHty of more 



