| Show vital problem of food agitates great barita draws upon whole world to supply its tables washington bombs bullets and battleships As 1938 opens to the we worldwide anvil chorus of munitions manufacture england faces not only an estimated armaments bill of a billion avillion and a half dollars for the forni coming ng year but the less belligerent in in sound but equally vital problem gf of food for the island kingdom is is dependent on overseas imports for the major share of her provisions in peace or war sea lanes must be kept clear to feed her floating millions at london docks the worlds ships unload a never ending stream HERES TO YOU 1 X I 1 1 4 S W rt entertaining his tonsils with a bottle of pop between sets in one of 0 his trecena exhibition matches in australia is donald budge united states singles champion following recovery from a tennis slump that brought defeat at the hands of john bromwich young budge went on to give a bang up account of himself in the australian meet of foodstuffs ranging from australian mutton to jamaica bananas from persian dates to brazilian coffee says the national geographic society here are facilities in cellars sheds caves and warehouses to swallow a million tons of goods at one time As custodians of this huge larder the port of london authority not only acts as middleman weighing grading and sorting various commodities but maintains in the he interests of sanitation and quality a busy corps of inspectors laboratory men and experts in various lines use modern facilities there are specially constructed cranes and mechanical carriers for handling unwieldy or odd shaped packages giant chutes for flowing rivers of grain refrigerating plants and underground vaults for wine whose temperature is carefully regulated to preserve rare and I 1 precious vintages from distant lands in warehouses exuding the faint sweetish odor of an old apothecary shop are stored spices from cey ion the east indies and malaya here come bales of cinnamon in the form of quills resembling dried sticks and nutmegs packed in regu lation sized containers labeled singapore boxes and literally to tons ns of pepper london dock alone handles a thousand tons of pepper annually a lot of sneezes in any country to satisfy carni carnivorous verous englishmen 70 per cent of the count rys meat imports representing some tons are handled at london each year to provide another prime staple in diet bread england buys wheat from five continents with canada australia and argentina chief contributors tribu tors in one recent year imported grains including barley oats corn and beans totaled more than two million tons of which nearly a million and a half were of wheat presented with such astronomical figures you realize how london has grown and how eng lands food demands have increased only a couple of centuries ago wheat which along with other small grains the english call acorn corn was imported into england in almost negligible quantities time was when small grains were actually the islands leading export favors own colonies although a lavish buyer now of the worlds farm products john bull naturally favors trade with his own dominions and colonies and has nursed to maturity many a once infant commodity business in some distant part of the empire in 1880 london welcomed the first shipment of frozen meat from australia later at a cost of a million and a half dollars the port authority built a sorting warehouse and cold storage plant designed especially for the australian and new zealand meat trade today the port reaps the benefits as capacious holds of snub nosed british merchant ships disgorge a steady flood of such varied items as butter cheese and apples of f new zealand rum and sugar from barbados grapefruit and mo lasses from the west indies onions from egypt coffee from kenya tea pineapples cocoa coconuts 4 from india and the straits settle ments i labeled with the strange characters of foreign tongues come alsol also consignments consign ments postmarked anywhere from of soviet russia to pernambuco fernambuco brazil there are ar gentine beefsteaks beef steaks greek currants and fresh fruit and vegetables brandies and wines from france spain and portugal ita italy 1 y offers olive oil and canned goods and t from north american ports still more canned goods fruit fish and grain from china and japan among other shipments come soya beans and rice and of course teak tea by the shipload for tea has played an important part in the story of of En glands seaborne sea borne trade from sail to steam over a period of nearly SOO years |
