NAZI LAWS FLOUTED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 87, 12 March 1941, Page 8

NAZI LAWS FLOUTED.

HOARDING AND SMUGGLING. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 10The latest information reaching official circles in London indicates that there is an increasing tendency in the occupied territories to break the German official regulations in spite of the stringent penalties. Hoarding on the part of both producers and consumers is frequent. Live stock are slaughtered surreptitiously. Producers and dealers overcharge their customers. Scarce but unrationed foods ■ are sold by the retailer only if the customer buys at the same time articles that are in ample supply. Smuggling is frequent. Not merely food itself but also food coupons are subject to theft, while the latter arc often forged. These are all punishable offences in every country under German rule.

In the German countries Austria is the centre of illicit trading, and members of the Nazi Party are among the worst offenders. In Denmark one hoarding case involved 50,000 kilos of butter in cold store, and there have been numerous convictions for forgeries and thefts of coupons. Overcharging in Holland recently resulted in the confiscation of two factories' entire stock of 170 tons of cocoa and importers' stock of 400,000 kilos of coffee. Notwithstanding the severe penalties, prosecutions for hoarding had mounted steeply at the end of last year in Belgium/ In August 320 prosecutions occurred, involving .thousands of kilos of goods, and by November the number had risen to "7000, while in December the total was 8531, covering ] 0,001.530 kilos of foodstuffs. Theft and forging of coupons have become increasingly common in Occupied France, and in one district 220,000 forged coupons were recently issued. The severity of the measures that have been taken to protect foodstuffs in Italy is indicated by the fact that theft of staple foods has been punishable by the death penalty since December.