Timely Topics

Northern Advocate, 25 May 1938, Page 4

Timely Topics

; An unprecedented number of overjseas visitors from ail parts of the Em- ? pire came to Britain last year in or- ? der to see the Coro-

jUNHERALDED I GUESTS.

ration 'and revisit the cradle of tiieir

j race (says “The f Times”) Their cousins and hosts, | startled into unusual activity by the I importance of the occasion, entertainfed generously. . . . Theoretically, 1938 9 |is a “ncralal” year for Imperial visitors. Yet the various Empire societies, which, with the shipping comi panics, are best able to gauge the * prospects, expect that 1938 will fall |short of 1937 by no more than a third ? —an expectation which, if fulfilled, iwi.ll bring the numbers up to the I same height as in 1935, the year of 'the Jubilee. Reasons given to explain rthe expected numbers are that some I postponed their visit last year for ■fear cf the crowd or of inability ta | get berths, that others have since fbeen encouraged to come by their i friends’ reports of English licspitallity, and that many, descendants of a | great emigrant race, are Scots comf ing home to see the Glasgow Exhibi- • ition. However that may be, the ex- | pectaticn is there, and the implica- | tion is obvious. This is not a year for ibig official functions on the scale of 1 1937, nor does anyone desire them. | But it brings an opportunity amountf ing ■to a respcnsiblity. It would be a I shabby affair if returning visitors I were able to report that the English, | having exerted themselves for the big I occasion, had now suffered an unirr.,- | aginative relapse. To prevent .such |an occurrence elaborate and expen[sive entertainment is entirely unneJ cessary. What is needed is that those | who came forward with ' invitations Ilats year, and others, too, should communicate with the societies or indif viduals who then acted as mediators, *and offer their services as hosts. Both hn j guests and gratitude will be forthcoming.

y O K' ® s Says “Hie Times” when discussing the feeding of Britain, in war time: As in the Great War, local food committees are to be

FOOD IN WAR TIME.

established, and will be responsible for

the issue of ration books to consumers. *For rationed goods, consumers would be tied to particular retailers. The prices charged to the public by retailers would be fixed by order and vtould provide a fair margin over the fixed buying price to cover expenses and profit. Meat and some other foodstuffs would probably be rationed. at once in order to conserve supplies and prevent waste; but it is not considered that it would be necessary to have a general rationing, at least at the outset, provided, of course, there were sufficient reserves in Wand. ' The task of making provision for the feeding of 47,000,000 under far worse conditions than those that prevailed in the last war, is necessarily one that calls for an immense amount of preparation, which, in turn, demands the closest co-operation of every section of the food and transport trades and the municipal authorities. An encouraging sign that such co-operation does, in fact, exist, is furnished by the smoothness with which the Government Was gone ahead with its plans for building up reserves of wheat and other foodstuffs.