ENGLISH HOUSEWIVES

Grey River Argus, 16 February 1946, Page 5

ENGLISH HOUSEWIVES

DENOUNCE RATION CUTS.

(Rec. 10.5-). LONDON, February 14. Housewives from centres throughout Britain crowded into the Livingstone Hall at Westminster to air their food grievances, under the auspices of the British Housewives’ League. The meeting carried a resolution calling for a woman to be appointed a joint Food Minister, and for the immediate co-option of women on every local Food Committee. A petition to the Food Minister was also prepared, as follows: “We women are profoundly disquieted at the level to which our food is lowered. We are forced to surrender our meat ra-

lion to our husbands and children. We see no reason why we should be denied dried eggs, for films.” There were several hours of lively discussions. The questions fanged from the absence o$ bananas in London to the food served in the hotels and in luxury restaurants. Mention of the word “kippers” brought cries, “We never see kippers!” When a deputation left for the House of Commons to see Sir Ben Smith, there were cries of, “Dont be too lenient with him!” The deputation later conferred -with the Minister of Food, and handed over its resolution.

Mrs. Roosevelt, when she arrived at Frankfurt by air from London, said: “The Germans look as well fed as. or perhaps better fed, than uie British. The villagers must be getting enough to eat because I noticed that the farms are well cultivated,” she said, describing what she • had seen from the plane. The children especially appeared to her to be healthier in Germany than in England.

Mr. Hillman, Vice-President of the Congress of Industrial Organisations, and a member of the World Federation of Trade Unions' delegation, now touring Germany has denied American reports that lack of food was reducing the German population to the verge of starvation.

U.N.O. FOOD RESOLUTION

LONDON, February 14

The United Nations Assembly carried unanimously the resolution on the need for arranging world-wide distribution of food. When the debate was resumed today, Mr Erik Colban (Norway) expressed the gratitude of Norway for food sent during the occupation, but for which a serious situation might have turned into real disaster. Norway would do her best to help peoples now threatened with hunger. Mr Rasmussen (Denmark), regretted that Denmark could be of little help, as her soil was unsuited to wheat-growing, and there were no stocks of grain. Denmark, in tlw common interest, had abstained from demanding any allocation of wheat imports from the present, harvest year.

M. Gromyko (Soviet), in the shortest speech, described the problem as of unprecedented dimensions. “The Soviet delegation expresses its hone in the solution adopted.” Sir R. Mudaliar (India), appealed on behalf of the starving masses who were now faced with a calamitous prospect. He particularly appealed to Russia for assistance. Mr Paul Martin (Canada), said Canada would continue shipping wheat at an average rate of 1,000,000 bushels each working day. Canada by July 1, 1946, would in three years have exported more than one billion bushels of wheat or flour, including the war-time reserve of 600.000,000 bushels. These shipments were sufficient to provide a normal bread ration for 250,000,000 persons for a year with substantial by-products for feeding livestock. Canada entered the current year with exportable stocks of 140,000,000 bushels of wheat, all of which would be shipped before July 31. Canada was making every effort to speed up deliveries and was examining the possibilities of increasing exportable stocks. Shipments would be greatly increased when the Montreal and Quebec ports re-opened in April; meanwhile -200,000 Halifax dockers were working at top speed. Detailing the Australian wheat position, Mr J. Beasley said that as far as could be judged the harvest just completed yielded 125,000,000 bushels. The target for 1946 for sowing in two to three months’ time is 15,000,000 acres —an increase over 1945 of 30 per cent.

“We, in recent, discussions with the Combined Food Board, Washington, agreed to make available for shipment, during the first six months of 1946, every ounce of wheat and flour that can possibly be spared and transported. We need a regular flow of ships, and for this we must, look to other Governments. Australian flour mills are being asked to work three shifts daily. We cut by another 17 per cent, our allocation of wheat for stock food. Every cut of stock food in order to export more wheat does, however, threaten the export of eggs, dairy produce, and meat”. Mr Beasley said that Australia was not a large rice producer, the annual crop being only 30,000 tons. The whole rice crop during the war was ear-marked for the Australian Armed Forces and for export mainly to Pacific consumer areas. Rice did not appear for civilian consumption in Australia during the war, and was still being withheld from the population. The whole of- the coming crop was being allocated to the London Food Council.

Doctor B. E. Blanck (Cuba) suggested that the difficulty of replacing grain and concentrated' foods could be partly solved by dehydration and by the supply of substitute foods. M. Rendis (Greece) said to-day that Greece’s population was only kept alive by consignments provided by U.N.R.R.A.

Delegates cheered and clapped when a resolution promising help for stricken Europe was carried.