THE SCOTS FORSAKE THEIR PORRIDGE.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17401, 11 March 1922, Page 14

THE SCOTS FORSAKE THEIR PORRIDGE.

.Many people in Scotland are seriously concerned regarding the neglect of porridge by the masses of tho people (writes "A Scotsman" in tho "Dtiily Mail"). , , ~, Two years ago there Were doubtless sound economic reaeons for the "ousewife turning from this national disnOatmeal waa then selling aa high as fe per stone (its dearnesß was accentuated by the bread subsidy, wljicn enabled flour to be sold at less than half that price), while milk, which is the- common accompaniment of porridge in Scotland, was at- its apex ooat of Is per quart. At such prices pwridge, once the plainest of table fare, became something of. a luxury. But how different is the position today! Oatmeal is now retailing at from 2s 6d' to 33' per stone, while milk has just undergone a big cut in prico, and is now available in. Glasgow at ud -per quart. Glasgow, indeed, can now .boast of having probably the choapest milk supply ot any big centre in Gi - eat Britain. . Economically, therefore, there is no longer any reason for the boycott of porridge. No other food is relatively so reasonable m price. Whereas tho official index, figure of the cost of living is still over 90 per- cent, above the prewar level, the oatmeal figure itself will he nearer "40 per cent., and the milk figure (in Glasgow) is exactly only 50 per cent, over pre-war values. So that we must look for other ex. planations. Most authoritjeß are agreed that the main factor in weaning tho great mass of the Scottish public from porridge was, the ohangs in the start' mg hour on public works. Formerly, when/the. workman leTt home for a 6 a.m. start, he Returned for breakfast throe hours later, and found his dish of porridge awaiting hirn. Nowadays he starts work at 8 o?clock and has no break for food till midday. Accordingly he must breakfast before'B o'clock, which necessitates an earlier rising for the housewife. In tho hurried preparation of breakfast, porridge has been generally discarded. "CV canny," in other words, has infected the housewife aa well as her partner. That, the national dish should be* forsaken in this way by the urban population of Scotland is widely deplored. Porridge is still tho main item in the dietary of the frugal and hardy people of the Highlands, and in the western isles (though tho old oatmeal mills in "these rural parts are now' mostly derelict). " ; The supplies for these heavy consumers of porridge are sent largely from Glasgow, and but for the demand from such quarters, the city oatmeal merchants might as well retire from btHinoss these days. Even in households that are. subsisting wholly or in part upon the "dole" the porridge boycott obtains. This latter circumstance suggests that the neglect of porridge is becoming habitual. Oatmeal millers expected that when the costs fell cheapness would affect a, cure for tho trouble. But despite much publicity of the exceptional value which porridge offers to-day the public remain shy of it. Hence an oatmeal trador now 1 actually suggests an appeal to the. King. Apparently his liope is that royal example will succeed where the strong card of cheapness has foiled.