London Topics-— Cigarette Shortage Affecting Even Members Of Cabinet

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 August 1948, Page 3

London Topics- — Cigarette Shortage Affecting Even Members Of Cabinet

(From E. G. WEBBER. N.Z. Tress Association Correspondent.) (Rec. 9 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 22. The cigarette shortage is still the prevailing topic of the hour, and it has already been observed that the more people talk about it and the more newspapers write about it, the worse it becomes. It has yet to be established that there is an actual shortage of cigarettes and that the present situation is not largely due to scare hoarding. In smoking carriages and other places places where the disappearance of the elusive packet of 20 is most hotly debated, Cabinet has come in for a good deal of abuse as the visible instrument imposing the tobacco restrictions.

Nearly AH Smokers However, His Majesty’s Ministers are suffering quite as much as less notable targets. Nearly , all the members of Mr Attlee’s Cabinet, including Mr Attlee himself, are smokers. Probably the hardest hit is the Foreign Secretary (Mr Ernest Bevin), who is an habitual chainsmoker, particularly in moments of tension, and difficult negotiations which appear to comprise so much of his life. He even has been observed to expend a full packet of 20 upon a strenuous press conference. Another heavy smoker is the President of the Board of Trade (Mr Harold Wilson), who distributes his preferences evenly between cigarettes, cigars, and a pipe. Even the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Stafford Cripps), although he is a vegetarian and a non-drinker, enjoys a pipe and an occasional cigarette—which is becoming much more occasional as the shortage continues. The newspaper cartoonists, of course, have found the cigarette famine a ready made theme. One of the current black and white comments upon the situation is a sketch showing a small boy licking an ice cream in the sacrosanct players’ enclosure at Lord’s. An apologetic cricketer is explaining to his indignant companion that the boy’s father is a tobacconist. Mr Morrison’s Hair In the absence of more substantial political topics, the cartoonists and columnists have also devoted some attention to the surprising appearance of the Lord President of the Council (Mr Herbert Morrison), apparently shorn of the upstanding quiff of hair which has always been seized upon, like the forelock of opportunity, by British cartoonists. ; The first sensational report upon the matter stated that Mr Morrison had been compelled to go to a new barber during the Parliamentary recess, and that while the Lord, President was dozing in the chair his quiff was removed before he could protest. When questioned about it Mr Morrison admitted that he had gone to a new barber, but he removed his hat to prove that the quilt had merely been plastered down. Mr Churchill, who must be giving his barber less and less trouble, left today with his wife, daughter and Son-in-law, to spend a holiday in the South of France. Mr Churchill is going to Aix-en-Provence, one of the rallying places of French painters, and the birthplace of the famous impressionist, Cezanne. He hopes to spend most of his holiday painting Provencal landscapes and working on his war memoirs. Glubb Pasha in Britain When Brigadier John Glubb Pasha, the famous commander of the Transjordan Arab Legion, arrived in Britain on furlough last week, he brought with him his 4-year-old adopted daughter, Naomi. Naomi is an Arab child, who was adopted in infancy bv Brigadier Glubb and Mrs Glubb, when they found her on a doorstep in Amman. There has been much gossip about the purpose of Brigadier Glubb s visit to Britain, but no official statement about it has been made, either by the Foreign Office or Brigadier Glubb himself. Brigadier Glubb is, however, being specially guarded by British secret police during his visit, and he has been asked not to open any parcels sent to him until they have been examined by Home Office experts.