SUPPLIES FOR 7,000,000

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 29 March 1915, Page 8

SUPPLIES FOR 7,000,000

FEEDING THE BELGIAN'S. WORLD'S GREATEST CHARITY. The gigantic scope of the -work undertaken bv the Coming ion for Relief in Belgium" is described in the London "Dailv Chronicle" of January 22 by a special correspondent, who visited the distributing centres of the commission at Rotterdam. Over 7.000,000 Belgians are entirely dependent on the commission, and to meet their needs b:ead, potatoes and soup are being distributed to the extent of 20.000 tons a week, and at a cost (says the correspondent) of £I.OOO. 000 a month. The following is taken from the article: — . In a verv large room on the rlarmgvliet at Rotterdam three or four gentlemen are hard at work all day, and often far into the night. Their business is to ffed an entire nation. There are over 7.000,000 Belgians entirely dependent on the Commission for Relief for keeping their bodies and souls together on half a soldier's ration per hea-d. This goes on week in and -week out. Rotterdam is almost the last link in a chain that stretches to the starving Belgians from rich and charitable folk, not only in Great Britain, but thousands of" miles away, in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Cargoes of wheat, flour, maize, and the like, constantly arrive in the Maas, and are swiftlv unloaded and dispatched alon<r the Dutch canals to the appointed Belgian centres. Before saying something about this work may I give the daily allowance to each man, woman and child? Here are the figures: — 325 grammes of bread (equal to about - 10 ozs.}. 500 grammes of potatoes (equal to ahoiit a pound). A litre (nearly a quart) of soup once a day, and in some cases twice. To convert dollars of money into 6,000,000 or' 7,000.000 such rations dailyis a "task which is organised in London. At 3 London Wall Buildings, Mr Herbert Hoover presides over the work from 9.30 to 6.30. every day, and lunches on the premises to save time. In the evening .he goes home to superintend more clerical work at his own residence. He and his colleagues buy whole cargoes of wheat and tens of thousands of tons of flour at a time, and are more delighted at getting £ of a cent, off the market price than if the gain was theirs personally. The Atlantic freight is very heavy* somewhere about £2 10s a ton ; and this apart from, purchases, is the most" expensive item. DISTRIBUTION OX BUSINESS LINES. The actual process of distribution, ■which is dealt with from Rotterdam, is run on business lines as far as possible. The ultimate centres from which the Belgians teceive the food are two —the local baker and the local communal office. As. far as possible the. wheat is ground in. Belgium to give employment to the people; and there, at- three points —Brossels, Liege, and Louvain—mills ;are now at work, with the possibility of another at Ghent. The soup is made in large quantities at central depots, and sent by waggon to the communes, -where it is served cold, the people warming it up for themselves, as: and when required. Not all the bread is given away • the better class Belgians can buy it "of their bake! at a fixed price. In order to make the wheat go as far as possible the mills are made to grind up to 85 per cent, of the grain—thus making a robust -wholemeal flour— the remaining 15!' per cent; going to feed cattle, and thus indirectly pid the food resources. ' When the bread is sold the commission makes a profit for its purely charitable -work. A. typical instance was the .purchase of wheat at a price -which enabled them to turn it into flour at Brussels at an all-in cost of 36 centimes per kilo,' This was retailed at 45 centimes per kilo, the balance being available foi the general purposes of the fund. The commissioners say that they can sell bread at London prices and make a profit of it. In one month this profit .amounts to over £IOO,OOO which'is a nice help towards, the £1,000,000 and morelii month required. CHECK ON ADULTERATION. The Belgian bakers are strictly supervised to prevent adulteration and to ensure that every person rich or poor gets bread of the quantity and quality arranged for. With the "consent of the Germans ' an agreement has been entered into with.- every baker, the penalty for breaking -which for the offence is eight days'-.compulsory closing of his shop. For a second offence the penaltyis the complete and final closing down of- his premises and the handing of his list of customeis to his nearest competitor. A- few cases in the early part of the operations promptly yielded to treatment, and there is now no trouble. • Handling millions of pounds sterling and .hundreds of thousands of tons of goods, .the commission practises the strictest' economy. .1 saw one cargo of Canadian wheat arrive at Rotterdam. It was a gift from Montreal. The ship was the Calcutta, Captain Young, a 6 fine an old sea-dog as ever,, came up the Maas. Fifteen and .a; half days, he told me, he had been _ on the journey, with weather that carried, away a 'ventilator from the deck and stove in a door; but the cargo, gome 4000 tons, -was safe and sound, and by general agreement the wheat was amongst the finest that had crossed the Atlantic. _ WORLD'S' LARGEST SOUP KITCHEN. The sonp kitchen in Brussels is now ' the largest in the world. Nearly 50, 000 people entirely destitute wait in. the bread lines every day, and over 600 gallons of soup and 4000 kilograms of bread are daily distributed to them. The soup is all prepared in the large storehouse of the International Express Company Van Gand. More than 100 people are engaged in this work. Among them are former chefs of some of the leading hotels of Brussels, and gi%*e directions as to the kind and' quality of the soup, its, ingredients and their proportions. Under them are those who clean the vegetables^ —potatoes, carrots, beans, etc.— and prepare the meat. The entire staff ia composed of volunteers, except the chefs ,who receive at the most half a crown a day. From 3 o'clock in the morning, when the cooking of the first 5000 gallons of roup is started, the scene in the circuslike storehouse of the Express Company is one of tremendous activity. Fires blaze under scores of immense cauldrons, and the hundred white-cCad chefs- move swiftlv about, dimly seen through the shifting, clouds of pungent steam rising from the boiling sonp. , % When- the soup is cooked it is sent, tinder the seals of the commission, and nnder the protection of the American flag, in laree lorries to the 21 canteens scattered all over Brussels. It need hard'.y be said that the Relief Commission arelooking into the near future very anxiously. A million sterling a month "is a big sum even for a short period, and there is no likelihood of an early end to the need for it. The patiencfe and generosity of the American as well as of the people of other nations, including Britain and British Dominions who are furnishing money and aoods, no sign- yet of slackening, hut the task is an enormous one. and represents probably the largest charitable enterprised ever organised. ;