Food Debate
Not a week passes without its crop of food news. And yet nothing new seems to occur in the real food situation. Last week's food debate in the Commons served to reveal that the last 200,000 tons of wheat sacrificed by Mr. Morrison was a sacrifice not of actual stocks, but of future allocations. It also revealed that bread-rationing plans were in preparation and that 1,165,000 tons of grain had been allo- cated to India and 675,000 tons to the British zone of Germany for the period May-September. But very little concrete and reliable information was given about the situation in either of these coun- tries. And it is unlikely that there will be any firm news until proper international machinery is set up, requirements and alloca- tions regularly quoted and performance regularly measured. That will not happen until the proposed International Emergency Food Council becomes a reality. In the meantime the new Minister of Food may contribute to enlightenment by abandoning the policy of suppressing food stocks figures—a policy which has so far paid no dividends at all. It is true that publication does not guarantee sensible discussion either in America or the House of Commons. But at least it might help to eliminate mere exchanges of Government evasion for Opposition abuse such as took place in the House last week. In the days when Mr. Churchill had possession of all the facts about food he used to say very little about them. It would be no bad thing if those days should come again.
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