The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1941. The Racket Goes On

Northern Advocate, 4 December 1941, Page 4

The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1941. The Racket Goes On

'iff T is a sad commentary upon human beings that some of the | species eagerly take advantage of the misfortunes of others *in order to make personal profit. The wreckers who placed lights upon a beach in order to deceive a ship’s'crew and induce them to set a course which piled their vessel on the rocks, often resulting in wholesale loss of life, were regarded as the essence of despicability. Destruction of human life meant nothing to them so long as they were able to obtain possession of cargo or other material which they could turn into money. The wreckers, however, were not one whit worse in spirit than many racketeers who regard a national emergency as their harvest time. There are many of these shady ones at work today, if all that is reported in Home papers be true, and there is reason to believe that if the restraining hand of the law were not feared, people other than those who live overseas would be victimised without compunction.

A time of war is proverbially a time when the profiteer, in a big way or in a small way, flourishes. When the last mail left London much discussion was revolving around the exorbitant prices charged for food substitutes. The London “News Chronicle” exposed a milk substitute ramp, and, following upon this a member of the House of Commons asked for information in connection with a London firm selling for three shillings a pound a milk substitute which was made up of flour, salt and baking powder.

Major Lloyd George, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Food, said his department purchased over the counter a sample of the product referred to, and had it analysed. _ It consisted mainly of the materials mentioned. -He was giving urgent consideration to steps to protect people from the sale of foodstuffs of this kind. He added that the fact that these products were food substitutes did not in itself make them harmful. What was serious was the exploitation of the public regarding price. A few days after this statement, the “News Chronicle” published an article which showed that London housewives were paying up to eight shillings a pound for egg substitutes which they could make cheaply in their own kitchens by mixing baking powder with flour. Some substitutes, it was stated, contain dried egg, but the great majority are nothing but self-raising flour. It was the same kind of thing as the milk substitute sold at three shillings a pound, except that a little coal-tar dye is added to give egg-colour. “There are scores of these substitutes on the market, and new ones appear every day,” said the “News Chronicle,” which declared that “the ramp is worse than the milk substitute ramp, because the price is higher. In the East End packets are on sale at 3-kl, to 7d., which works out at 7/3 to 8/- a pound. Six of these egg substitutes were analysed by a well-known analyst. All, he pointed out, make a batter rise—but the housewife pays 47 times as much for it as she would if she made her own substitute.” The “News Chronicle,” dealing editorially with the matter, said: “This sort of racket has now been exposed so often that nothing remains to be done except to end it. The quotation of new cases merely emphasises the need. The remedy is known—to make compulsory the publication of the ingredients on the label, and to impose stringent prison sentences for deliberate offences.” These comments stress the value of the steps taken in this country to ensure that food sold to the public is pure and true to label, and that exploitation is.prevented as far as possible.