Page 6 Advertisements Column 2

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 223, 20 September 1943, Page 6

By special arrangement Reuter s world eervice, In addition to other specia) compilation of oversea intelligence published in this issue, and all rights therein In Australia and New Zealand are reserved.

“They asked for Bread.. INSIDE STORY OF THE SHORTWEIGHT LOAF Innocently buying a 2-pound "split loaf,” few housewives realise that almost invariably, owing to a sly trick practised by the Fraser Government at the public’s expense, they get up to 4 ounces less than they pay for. From May to October, 1942, owing to the heavy increase in their production costs, bakers were granted a subsidy based on their weekly turnover. In place of the subsidy, the Government then found a more subtle method. A circular to bakers, described as the "New Zealand Emergency Standard Specification for Bread,” was sent out by the Standards Institute, authorising a minimum weight of lib. 12 ounces per loaf, instead of 2lbs. This was backed up by an Order-in-Council in which the new minimum weight was not mentioned, but bakers were authorised to bake according to the "said specification,” provided a loaf of the full weight of 2lbs. was made available to customers on a day’s notice being given. This was just a confidence trick, the majority of customers continuing to buy the ordinary loaf under the impression they were getting full weight. A Government that resorts to these subterfuges, in order to keep the true position from the public, is not to be trusted. During the past two years, 142 bakers have gone out of business owing to inability to meet their costs. The Government for political reasons has refused to allow them to pass these costs directly on to the public. Instead, they have forced the bakers, by Order-in-Council, against their will and their better judgment, to accept an arrangement which takes the money from the consumers by a roundabout method. You LOSE one loaf in every eight loaves that you buy, yet you arc told ’ the price of bread has not gone up. These are facts. They reveal the technique of the Fraser Government in mass deception. Change the Government on Saturday ion'NATION A L