FOOD CONSERVATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17174, 29 November 1917, Page 6

FOOD CONSERVATION

LORD RHONDDA 'S ACTIVITY. ALL ESSENTIALS AFFECTED. (Fbom Oub Own Corbespondkjti , .! LONDON, September 7. Tho public of the Old Country feels today, lor tho first time, some real confidence in the measures of tho Government for the control and conservation of the food supply. The fact cannot bo disguised that until to-day it has had.- very little, if any, eonfklenco on this score, and the widespread discontent was the clearest possible warning to Mr Lloyd George that he could not expect to go through another winter like tho last without some very serious upheaval on the part of tho working classes. To the ordinary householder " tho control" exercised by Lord Devonport was a baJd sham. It consisted of a series of edicts that food should bo available to the public at certain prices when, as a matter of fact, it was either not available at all or was only available at considerably higher prices. Nor was there any earnest of the Government's intention to enforce what it ■laid down. Trt-day tho outlook is very different Although the harvest has been disappointing, and in some districts disastrous, the stocks of corn in the country to-day are from two to three million quarters in excess of tho quantity held at this time last year. Tho fruit crop has been exceptionally heavy, and potatoes under the influence- of tho potato disease have come into the market in quantities, which have produced a glut. Keeping sorts have been laid under embargo, and cannot be removed to the market without licenses. On the whole, the public is enjoying to-day a measure of abundance that it has not known for a long time past. The restrictions on the consumption of flowr and l broad are, however, being maintained, and this early provision against scarcity boforo next harvest has produced something more than a mere skeleton of security. TO. CONTROL COMMITTEES, Lord Rhondda was perhaps surprised by tho position which faced him when tho lnonicipalitiea set about appointing their local lood committees under his orders. Tho first few committees that were appointed were composed of a majority, and in eome cases wholly, of small traders and persons interested in the sale of food. More than this, there were numbers of cases pointed out in which tradesmen who had been convicted of malpractises and breaches of the Food Control orders wore actually appointed to tho committees. Lord Rhondda took up the case of Newcastle— one of the most important industrial centres in Great Britain, —and wro'to to the Lord Mayor, pointing out that a committee, formed almost entirely of traders, could not possibly enjoy the confidence of the public. Newcastle, very sensibly, reconsidered the matter, called the trades unionists into consultation, and. appointed a new committee equally representative of traders, nontraders, and Labour representatives. Liverpool, at the same time, decided to preclude from membership any persons at all who were employed in tho sale of food. This position is not really so wicked as it appears. Tie public school class and the better middle class have traditionally refrained altogether from taking part in local politics, with the notable exception of the London County Council, with the result that municipal governments and poor law administration have been left largely to the tender mercies of the shopkeeping classes. Lord yihondda's action regarding the Food Committees is on all fours with his treatment of profiteers on a more elaborate scale. A Lincolnshire farmer, who made a profit of £5000 by contravening the orders regarding potatoes, was. fined £5500 and costs. >.. FIXED FOOD PRICES. Next week we are to have the first experience of obtaining, food at prices fixed by the Government considerably below the ruling rates. The 41b loaf of bread, which has cost a shilling for the greater part of the year, is now to be obtainable for ninepence, with an additional halfpenny for delivery or credit. 'Flour is to be sold at 50s for a sack of 2801b.

The butchers show considerable reluctance to accept the conditions imposed by Lord Rhondda. They are in. future to be allowed 20 per cent., or per lb, whichever is the less, in excess of the wholesale prices in operation, an arrangement which is expected to reduce the price of meat very considerably. Another condition is that' they must exhibit in their shop a clearly-set-out scale of prices for all the different descriptions of meat. This they are not at all inclined to do, but there is little doubt that their resistance will be short-lived. The wholesale prices of meat have been scheduled for ensuing months up to January. For September home-killed beef and veal are to be 8s 8d per stone, and imports 8s 4d for hind quarters, 7s for fore quarters; mutton and lamb, 8a 8d home-killed, and 7s 8d imported. As regards milk, retailers are to be allowed 2d per imperial quart in excess of the corresponding price at the samo date in 19141 At the present moment milk is 6d a quart, and we are confidently assured that the price must go up during the winter. The retail prices of butter, based on a schedule of wholesale rates, promise to average from 2s l£d for Canadian and American, to 2s 5j,-d for Irish creamery. No maximum price is - fixed for Danish. Nobody is to bo allowed to sell butter retail at a profit of more than 2£d a lb on the actual cost to himself, but ah additional id may be charged for credit or delivery. The wholesale butter schedule places French rolls at 224s per 1121b; New Zealand and Irish kegs at 208s; . bisk casks at 2075; Australian, Argentine, Canadian, American, and Irish creamery, at 2065. The maximum retail price of imported cheese has been fixed at Is 4d per lb. THE JAM QUESTION. Owing to the scarcity of sugar an unusually large percentage of the fruit crop this summer will have to be lost or diverted to such uses as feeding pigs. Sugar has been allotted to owners ot orchards with the greatest caro and economy, and it is practically certain that the great bulk of the jam made this summer will contain a much smaller percentage than usual of sugar. The prices of jam are aifected, not only by the shortage of eugar, but also by the expenses of the containers. As fixed by the Controller the jam prices (without containers) are roughly as follows : — Apricot, cherry, black currant, pineapple and strawberry, lid per lb; peach and raspberry, lO£d; raspberry and red currant, 10d; blackberry, greengage, loganberry, red currant, raspberry, and gooseberry, strawberry and gooseberry, 9sd; apricot and apple, gooseberry, raspberry and pliim, 9d; dainson, plum, blackberry, and apple, black currant and apple, raspberry and apple, strawberry and apple, B^d; plum and apple, and any other description, Bd. The prices for jelly, with the exception of black" and red currant, are a £d a lb in excess of those for jam. Amongst the other food staffs which have been taken in hand by the Controller the following prices are fixed: — • Coloured haricot beans, 5-£ d per lb; large butter bcane, 8d; white haricot be-ans, 6d; Cerealino (or maize meal), 3£d; lentils (largo manufactured), 8d; do '(small manufactured), 7d; maize-flour, cakes, semolina, 3id; oatmeal and oats (rolled, flaked, or like products)—(Scotland), Qd; (England), sd; peas, blue and green (whole or split), 9d; do, yellow (split), 6d; tea, India and. Ceylon (by arrangement), 2s 4d to 3s, PROFITEERING IN DRINK. Although the consumption of beer has been very severely curtailed, it is more than likely that brewery companies will not suffer very heavily. Prices are continually rising at a rate which seems to more than cover the diminution in consumption. Bitter boor before tho war cost 3d a pint in most licensed houses, or 4d m the best room. By the end of 1916 tho price had risen to 5d and 6d. Then came stringent reductions of barrelage and a. sudden now advance of 10d, or oven 1?. The consumption again overtook the supply, and it is now become almost general to sell beer not by the pint or half-pint, but by the gloss, which averages three to tho pint. This means that tho publican gets Is 3d for tho liquor. Such as it is, it has increased in price by more than 100 per oent, though it is now 30 to 35 per cent, under proof.