AIDING A CRISIS

Evening Star, Issue 25742, 15 March 1946, Page 4

AIDING A CRISIS

The first sign of an official national move towards making available all Dominion surplus food to those most affected overseas by the present world shortage has come in Mr Fraser's promise to the deputation from the Interckurch Council that a system of voluntary rationing will be introduced. Of the need to conserve every possible scrap of food no one needs to be told in view of the disturbing messages that have lately come from abroad. These have been 'capped by the statement of the retiring directorceneral of Unrra, Mr Herbert Lehman: " The world food situation grows more critical daily. There has not been a single ameliorating factor in the past few weeks." No thinking | person can be other than perturbed by disclosures such as these, . backed up grimly by action which is to result in the German ration being reduced below a point generally assessed as the minimum for survival. The deputation waited on the Prime Minister because it felt that something had to be done in this country, and it proposed further compulsory rationing. Voluntary rationing has boen tried by groups in various parts of New Zealand, unused coupons being surrendered to the authorities on the understanding that the commodities thus not purchased be sent to Britain, but what has actually been wrought by these limited gestures is not reliably known. Mr Nash said yesterday that the hoped-for result has not been achieved. An organised national voluntary scheme could yield more satisfactory results, but if there is much fuss and bother involved in surrendering coupons it could fail. Unquestionably, the fairest thing would be to reduce the existing rations, which after all are ample for the needs of most persons and considerably more than that in the case of many. The Health Department has said that there are signs of malnutrition because of rationing, and coming from such authority the statement must be accepted, although the average person might consider the signs to be not obvious. Any tightening in rationing, however, would be only temporary, since by the end of the year the world position _ should have improved, with production increasing from war-ravaged areas. Because it would be only temporary what might seem drastic measures should be adopted for the,greater good. The Government's reluctance to take more positive measures like those advocated by the deputation is probably influenced by the fact that this is election year, and care must be taken not to jeorjardise further its_ already precarious hold on public opinion.