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Otago Daily Times, Issue 17217, 21 January 1918, Page 4

It is not surprising to learn, as we do in this morning's cables, that the faulty distribution of foodstuffs at Homo paints to "tho immediate need of compulsory rationing. What will have contributed' k> the growth of an agitation in Groat Britain in favour of the, introduction of suoh a system is tho knowledge that, while the greater part of the nation Iras been finding , extreme difficulty in getting supplies oi the bare necessaries, many persons have been able to indulge their appetites for costly meals. A personal investigation by Sir Arthur Yapp, Director of Food Economy, into the matter seems to have produced revelations which amazed liim. He discovered that while some of the leading hotels and restaurants in London might be conforming to the regulations, inasmuch as the only food commodities that were then rationed were meat, bread, flour, and sugar, there was, nevertheless, as ho himself expressed it, " such lavish and luxurious display of food as to. produce a psychological effect entirely dangerous to the nation in the present crisis." An official call for the dinner bills on November 23 at a West End hotel also gave Sir Arthur Yapp a painful surprise. He submitted the details of the first fourteen of these bills for publication. From tihem it appeared ,that one person indulged himself to the extent of 225, and that in the case of parties of dimors, "whose members ranged: from two to nine, the average cost per head varied between 10s 3d and ,£1 12s 4d, the highest average being that of three diners who between them ran xip a .dinner bill of £4 17s. Nor were these fourteen examples' exceptional. With the conclusion expressed by Sir Artliur Yapp thero must be general agreement:

4U the vital foods arc scarce, and wo are talking gravely of the imminent possibility of compulsory rations, while at the same time this extravagant indulgence and ostentation, giving a false impression of plenty, continue and make ono despair of teaching economy.

Tiie Daily Mail, however, did not hesitate to inform Sir Arthur Yapp that, in protesting against this vulgar ostentation and indulgence in luxuries, he was " barking up tiie wrong tree." It was, it gravely asserted', "a storm in a tea cup," and it declared that Sir Arthur Yapp was not shewing any great sense of proportion and that the food problem could only be grappled with on national lines and not on the lines of .class-hatred , . It may rea'sonab'ly be doubted -whether an exhibition of "class-hatred" is involved in the denunciation of persons w"ho fill themselves ito repletion with costly foods while the bulk of the people have to wait in long queues in order to be supplied, if they are fortunate —if,' that is to say, the supplies are not exhausted before their turn comes — "witib. necessaries of life. Certainly, however, tiie problem is being dealt with on "national lines" if nil classes of 'ipeople are required to submit to the same simple regimen. Sir Arthur Yapp's predecessor in his office, Mr Kennedy Jones, apparently took tlje view that '' th© nation would not suffer if all the iturtle soup amd caviare were eaten up" by persons who were prepared to pay for luxuries or if the same individuals were to indulge their fancies for the " expensive vegetables arad fruits in and out of season which are never seen on the table of tiie poor." Clearly it does not conduce to a satisfactory solution of the problem if the Food Controller's department is not consistent in the policy it pursues, but as clearly tiie way to reconcile the public to a system of rationing the actual necessaries of life is not that of allowing hotels and restaurants to provide expensive dinners for the benefit of moneyed people who tihink nothing of faring sumptuously and extravagantly at a time •wh&a. the need! of national economy is being proclaimed in the market places.