THE EMPIRE'S FOOD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19143, 8 October 1925, Page 14

THE EMPIRE'S FOOD.

AN ALL.BRITISH SLOGAN. UNITED KINGDOM CAMPAIGN, AN APPEAL TO HOUSEWIVES. [from our own correspondent. ] LONDON, Aug. 26. Considerable success has been achieved by the Women's Unionist Organisation in its campaign in favour of the buying of Empire produce. In September last year it started this campaign, and the results have been so good that it is increasing its efforts. The system is to send oufc boxes of Empire produce from 5s to £5 5s in value to the branches ail over the United Kingdom. A £2 2s box, for instance, contains some 16 tins or bottles of Australian, South African or West Indian dried or preserved fruit; a dozen tins of meat, fish and soup, including New Zealand toheroa and " rock lobster;" niiae packets of cereals from various Dominions; and Empire tea, milk, cheese, sugar, and even cleaning powder. These boxes are opened at the branch meetings and examined, and members buy the articles and take them home to test. Pamphlets are distributed, which may be handed to retailers. These give the names of wholesalers from whom the Empire produce can be obtained, in case the retailers find any difficulty in obtaining the goods from the firms with whom they usually deal. Some 4000 such sample boxes have been sent out since last September. "We are very careful," said Mrs. C. W. Rolleston, who is one of the organisers, " to keep away fi'om party politics. We even see that our imprint does not appear on our posters and our literature. We concentrated on Lancashire and Cheshire, and the results have been amazing. Now we are to have a campaign throughout Yorkshire. These counties are the key of the great manufacturing districts of the north, where propaganda is needed most of all. Consumers and Retailers. " Our object is to influence tha consumer first, then the retailer, and the wholesaler. We have found the retailers everywhere most desirous of helping to forward Empire produce. Many of the grocers saw active service during the war, and they have a very different conception of the Empire from what they had in 11913." Hitherto some member of the branch associations has explained where the produce in the boxes comes from, and the purchasers have taken the food away to prepare for themselves. The Women's Unionist Organisation is now about to institute coo.king demonstrations. Special cooks will be sent to various centres and they will explain the advantage of Empire food and show by actual demonstration that the cooked food is as good as the foreign—if not better. "It is naturally difficult to find out exactly what the results of the campaign are," said Mrs- Rolleston, " but we are getting plenty of letters from our memb«irs,' saying "that now they are able to o\ :ain certain articles from their grocers ■who previously did not stock them. Then again people talk about the sample boxes and tell their friends, and reports appear in newspapers, with the result that we are obtaining applications for sample b< xes from all parts of the country—fjom Cornwall, Wales, from Scotland, and oven from Jersey and Ireland." A Timely Statement, Some weeks ugo Dr. Haden Guest, L .hour M-P- for Bermondsey, gave a den; iption in the House of Commons of the unpleasant conditions under which hj« had seen raisins prepared in the Near East. Dr. Guest's' frank statement had an immediate result. People wrote ftpm all parts asking where they could get Empire-grown raisins. A list was prepared, showing the prices of Australian currants and sultanas and South African Sultanas and raisins, and the leaflet has been widely distributed. Special Empire fruit boxers, costing 4s each, were also made up for distribution, and doubtless the result has been a substantial increase in the sale of Empire dried fruits.