In the House of Commons on Thursday week Mr. Clynes
gave a cheerful account of the food situation, and received well-deserved congratulations. The position was much better than in the early summer of 1917. No belligerent, and few neutrals in Europe, could make and substantiate a similar claim. Our prospect of increased supplies was also better than it was a year ago ; foreign meat was coming in large quantities, while home flocks and herds had not been materially reduced. If the harvest should be good, here and in North America, the colour and quality of bread would be improved ; and as a nation we had had no real reason to complain of our war bread, and much reason to be thankful that it had never been rationed. We were now independent of foreign supplies of margarine ; the potato subsidy, instead of £5,000,000, would not exceed £1,500,000; and it would be possible to build up a winter reserve of bacon.
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