FOOD CONDITIONS AT HOME.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 82, 6 April 1918, Page 16

FOOD CONDITIONS AT HOME.

A lady writing from Southport, Eng land, to a lelative in Auckland says: — "This place has always been a dressy place, but from what I hear about various other localities there is neither a scarcity of wearing apparel nor the means to buy, no matter what the price. For one reason girls and young women are earning more money now than they ever have done before, and then again wives are getting regular allowances. Many of them have never known what it was to have regular wages week after week, and the consequence is that the> are having the time of their lives spending freely in every way. The man_ difficulty is food. This is both dear ant scarce, hence the long queues to be see„ waiting for hours to get certain articles of food, the chief being tea, buttor, margarine, bacon, lard, and at present all kinds of meat, especially pork. Personally I' have not had this trying experience, ag it ia not so bad here in Southport, but in some towns where people are anxious to get certain articles of food they stand for hours. It was pitiful here, she writes in another letter, from further north, to 6ee the day before Christinas the number of people standing at the various shops for their bit of food, and when the writer travelled through St. Helens, on the cars there were six policemen keeping the people in order by one large shop, the Maypole, not to mention the other shops. A relation of the writer in Birmingham went out to get some food, and returned after being out some hours with Jib of bacon, lib of butter, lib of tea, aud 2oz of sugar for a family of five to do a week. No jam and no lard procurable. The writer encloses a list of prices she has to pay now with the prices she paid before th_ war. jMeat had risen from 10_d to 1/10 or 2/; sugar, 2Jd a lb to 6d; butter, 1/2 to 3/4; lard, 6Jd to 1/3}; eggs, 10 or 12 for 1/, had gone up to four for 1/2; cheese, 8d or !lcl a lb, to I/O and 1/8; bacon, IOJd to 2/ and 2/4; tea, 1/0 to 2/8 and 3/; flour, 1/G a lb; onions Id per lb to 4Jd; potatoes, 1/2 a score to 2/; milk, 3Jd a quart to 7d; coffee, 1/0 a lb to 2/. Writing later the same lady says :''Next week all Southport ia to be rationed, and we will not be sorry, as all will be equally supplied with certain articles. Sugar was dealt with before. There have been lively scenes in some towns, and the queues have become endless. The butchers' shops are closed three days. East Sunday many people could not obtain a joint for dinner as the supply has been cut down 5 per cent." The list of maximum prices printed in the newspapers i s as follows:—Sirloins, home killed 1/8, imported meat 1/3; ribs, 1/7, imported ribs 1/3; rump 1/5, imported 1/3; brisket 1/2, imported lOd; kidney suet, 1/; rough bones, 1/, mutton, English legs 1/6; imported forequarters, 1/1; shoulders, English 1/6; chops and cut.;„ lets, 1/8; imported meat, legs 1/4, loins 1/4, chops and cutlets 1/6; pork loins and ribs, 1/10; loins, imported, 1/6; legs; 1/8; imported legs, 1/6; sheeps' heads; sd; fillets and loins, 1/9; cutlets of veal, 1/9. Previously to the informa

tion against posting sugar being received here this lady's Auckland correspondent had posted 21b of the necessary afternoon tea requisite, and the adventures of the package were amusing. The lady at Southport writes: "Now about the sugar. I got a registered letter from the Customs and Excise Department, London, a few days ago which was a most formidable affairIt stated that a packet had arrived addressed to mc from New Zealand, and the contents were described as ' Refined sugar o/s, weight 21b.' . It then went on to say that the importation of this commodity was prohibited under the Defence of'the Realm Act. And it had been seized by the authorities, and so if I wished it to be delivered I could apply to the Royal Commission on the Sugar Supply for license to that effect. Should, however, the permission be refused the goods would be sold in the prize court, and if I wished to claim compensation I would have to appear at the said court in person. I wrote to the Commissioners as advised, and a few days after received an answer to say that I could not be granted a license to have the goods, so you may be sure I said heartily ' Gott strafe Germany,' as I cannot tell you how I had looked forward to getting- this most precious and almost unobtainable article, and I had' such sweet thoughts of pies, puddings, cake 3 and jams."