ENGLISH FOOD BILL

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 55, 2 September 1916, Page 14

ENGLISH FOOD BILL

TRAGEDY OF HIGH PRICES

PRIVATIONS OF THE POOR.

Not all the people of England have been busy on munitions, nor in receipt of war bonuses or higher wages to compensate for tho great increase in the price of food. In an article which lie has written specially for Lloyd's News, Mr. Will Crooks makes a powerful plea for Government intervention at once. "The tragedy of the present high prices of food," he says, "is that the poor attribute them to the war. It isn't the war; it is the ' opportunity , afforded the profiteers to make big profits. That is the cause of it."

Mr. "Will Crooks is not only a Privy Councillor to the King; be is, above all, Privy Councillor to the poor. Further, he is well known in New Zealand, not only by repute, but personally, for having once met him one seems to know him for all time. He lives among the poor and knows them well. He is one of them, and quite understands the futility with them of attempting to butter parsnips with fine words or glibly spoken sophistries.

"There are people, even working people, who are not greatly affected by the enormous increase in the cost of food," he writes. "They are mostly men and women earning good wages in Government work On the other hand, there is a great proportion of the population in the East End—an abnormally great proportion—which is not on war work and is not earning, good wages. And these people hardly know how to struggle along. 1 "They earned a bare subsistence wage before tho war Now they have to pay 25 to 30 per cent, more for everything they need; and the saying down in tho East End that 'We don't live; we only exist,' comes home to us more painfully than ever. It is not only luxuries that are so dear now as to be out of our reach. Fish of the cheapest possible kind—which is the only fish sold there —can hardly be called a luxury. Yet it is now utterly out of the question as far as most of our people here are concerned. Such little 'snacks,' as we call them, as a kipper, a herring, or a. bit of bacon, are now an impossibility for the poor in London. The very cheapest parts of butcher's meat, which we havo always had to,buy in our quarter, are now similarly out of our reach. HIDDEN SUFFERING "Yet the casual visitor passes through our streets and exclaims at the apparent prosperity of the working-class. He is right, to some extent, for the district looks prosperous enough. But that is because only the prosperous men and women, in the light-heartedness that comes from, good wages after a hard week's work, are seen out-of-doors and 'in the shops. The people, who are not prosperous,- and are in the great majority, hide their poverty in back rooms and ..back streets, , and do_ their scanty shopping early in the morning. The real poverty of the East End is never seen. "Take the case of the old-age pensioners, of whom there are a good number round these parts. Before, they could just manage to keep flesh and bones together. Now, they are literally starving, for lack of the barest necessities of life, by reason of the terrible cost of food. I know the Old Age Pensions Act was never intended to become the sole support of an aged couple; but it was meant largely to contribute to their support. Now, in some cases, the other sources of income have diminished or disappeared, and the pensioners have :nothing but* their fiye shillings*a week. And even whew they 1 have a few shillings more the food prices are so high that it has become the most diificult thing to keep' body and soul alive. The powers that be, who are always the same official class, advise that nothing can be done; and beyond encouraging doctors to give food ami meat as medicine, nothing has been done. But what pensioner likes to go to the parish doctor for a bit of bread and meat, when he has been given to understand by the Government that he is altogether independent of charity? The very necessity of begging for food in the case of men who are, for their age, hale and hearty, is enough to drive them to despair. Then what about the poorly-paid wageearner -who could only eke out a bare existence in pre-war days? Surely a decent subsistence is the lot of every man, woman, and child! There can be no earthly reason why the Board of Trade, or any other Department concerned, should not bo able, without injury to a living soul, to keep prices down to a posI sible purchasing price for the poor. j After all food prices have gone up, the everlasting cry of the manufacturer is • the increased price of labour, and the in- ; creased cost of freights. Yet, nevertheless, fabulous fortunes have been made, and are still being made, at the expense of- the stomachs of tho people. This is a bad policy with a vengeance for Britain and the British Empire.

The tragedy of the present high prices of. food is that the poor attribute them to the war. It isn't the war; it is the opportunity... afforded the profiteers, to make big profits. That is the cause of it. It is no help to us to say that in Germany and Austria food is much dearer than here. If there is in this country enough to supply the demand, and by that I mean the bare necessities of the people, then these necessities should be available at reasonable prices. And if their prices are unreasonable, as they are now, then the Government should intervene, as in tho case of sugar, and reduce them accordingly. This is a question that will not wait.