LOST COUPON BOOKS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 51, Issue 3159, 19 August 1942, Page 5

LOST COUPON BOOKS

PENALTY IMPOSED ON OWNER ___ 4* FOUR COUPONS A MONTH When it is necessary, to supply fresh clothing coupons to replace a ration book that has been lost, four coupons are deducted from the n6w book for each month of the rationing period up to the date of replacement. This information was given by Mr J. E. Thomas, Food Controller, last week when a complaint from a correspondent was referred to him.The correspondent said that he had lost his ration book in August, and on obtaining a new one paid Is for it and forfeited, eight coupons; “If I had not used any clothing coupons and had lost my book later, the controller would have, by November, left me with two out of the 26,” added the correspondent, “but if I had used an average of four a month before losing the book the controller would not have penalised me at all.” Mr Thomas said that it might seem hard to do so, but some sort of penalty had to be imposed when a coupon book was lost. In this particular case the owner had been penalised eight coupons, covering the two months from May 29, when the coupons first became operative. Mr Thomas pointed out that if no penalty existed people could come along just before the six months were up and claim they had lost their book, even though they had traded in all their coupons.