28 APRIL 1917, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE Food Problem remains the question of the hour, and the public aro at last beginning to realize this fact, and to understand why we have worried, as they once thought, so wearisomely and so unnecessarily, about destroying vast masses of food and turning them into intoxicants. On Thursday the nation learnt that during the week ending April 22nd forty ships of over 1,600 tons and fifteen ships under 1,600 tons had been sunk by torpedoes or mines. That is a terrible total ; but we can assure our enemies that if they think we shall let go because they make us hungry, and may even destroy a certain percentage of the popu- lation by famine, they are very much mistaken. Though we have been specially pessimistic on the Food question, we have never entertained the thought of surrender for a moment. All that we have worried about, and mean to worry about, is that we are not doing as much as we might to meet the danger.