Food Defence Plans The making of a will shortens no
man's life, and unprovocative preparations against the possible eon- tingency of war do nothing to bring war nearer. In that category fall the Government's new plans for the storage of foodstuffs. If guns are necessary for survival, food is even more necessary, and the Government will have calmed many fears by its decision to set up a Food Defence Plans Department. It will work in co-operation with Sir Thomas Inskip, Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence, and will direct the supply, distribution and control of food for defence purposes. Mr. Baldwin has already stated that a rationing scheme is ready for use in emergency ; the-new Department will be concerned with questions of transport and distribution, and especially, it is to be hoped, of storage. The Admiralty may no longer be able to guarantee the safety of transports in war ; on the other hand, it seems possible that, even under existing conditions, food storage can provide us with the certainty of at least six months' supply. If this is possible it should be done ; the new Department can guard us against many of the omissions of 1914.
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