Conditions in Europe To-day

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 July 1946, Page 8

Conditions in Europe To-day

Britain, France and Norway

LONDON, July’ 8. Rationed and tax-ridden Britain watches enviously. Eire, where food prices are decreasing and taxes being steadily reduced. Eire’s Minister for Finance has announced a buoyant budget, lowering the standard rates of income, tax by 1/- to 1/6, and ordering a municipal rates cut of 3 per cent. Abolition of duties on sugar was also announced, thus reducing the retail price to Id a pound, while father price cuts in tea, meat, and sweets' are promised after .November. Petrol tax has also been reduced by 6d, so that petrol, while still rationed, sells at 9d a gallon less than in Britain.

The Minister admitted that .Eire’s neutrality brought prosperity chiefly through her being able to obtain high prices for agricultural produce. The Government had decided to pass on the extra revenue to the people in the form of tax reductions' and increased social services. There is also increased expenditure on trans-Atlantic airports;, and the extension of the national elee--tricity scheme. These commitments will increase the tax on whisky and other luxuries and decrease Post Office and savings bank rates by onehalf per cent. Bigger Papers in Paris. Last week the 33 Parisian daily papers expanded from two to four pages and doubled their price.

The. French Press Federation explained that the increased cost of newsprint and labour necessitated the price increase, adding: “A lower price would imperil the economic independence of the press born within the Resistance. Movement.”

The first public reaction to the in- | crease has been to buy fewer papers. | The combined circulation in Paris is normally about 6,500,000. It seems probable that several journals, which are little more than political pamphlets, will cease daily publication, becoming weeklies. All costs in Paris are related to the current price of a loaf of bread, and the newspapers now cost the price of one loaf, although morning papers sell at half-price after midday. Barter is so much part and parcel of Paris life to-day that newsboys in working-class districts gladly accept one cigarette for a paper in lieu of cash.

Norway Sets Example. Unlike most Allied Governments in exile during the war, the Norwegian Government, through its clever' intelligence service, kept in touch with popular sentiment in Norway. On its return it has maintained unity to a degree other European States may well envy. Even the course of Norwegian prewar politics lias continued since the liberation. The elections have not resulted in violent changes of political direction, although the Socialist regime was strengthened. In the Oslo Parliament, “The Storthing.” Opposition criticism is directed against the details, not the ends of Government policy, and support for the Communists has waned rapidly, largely as a result of Soviet foreign policy. Norwegian production is within 7 per cent, of pre-war standards, income tax is only 10 per cent, above the 1938 level, and unemployment is nil. Rationing is limited to fats and milk.

Using captured German plant and war prisoners, Norway is rapidly expanding hydro-electric power, and already has reduced her coal consumption to 5 per cent, below the pre-war levels.

As the Norwegian Premier, Einar Gerhardsen, said this week: “We are too busy building up, Norway to fight each other on doctrinaire politics. ’ Sky-High Luxury.

A few lucky people ate a sumptuous meal somewhere between Paris and New York, two miles up in the sky. Beginning with a wide choice of hors d’oeuvre, the diners worked their way through a long menu, including iced cantaloupe, pate de foie gras, smoked salmon, roast chicken, half a dozen cheeses, fresh fruit, pastries, and ice cream. The meal made history in sky eating, for it was the first time any commercial airline had attempted course-bv-course service.

AH this luxury marked the inauguration of Air France’s regular trans-Atlantic flights, and naturally the meal was accompanied by a choice of the finest of French wines.

France may be hungry, but no food shortage is going to be allowed to handicap the Government-subsidised airline in the race for the world’s new commercial prize—luxury transAtlantic air travel.

Directing Air France’s food front is chef Emile Delorme, who has already learnt one valuable lesson from the inaugural (light. Ice cream going aloft must be packed in airtight metal containers to prevent expansion. Air France’s ice cream packer in paper cartons and ended up spread all over the galley.