BUTTER RATIONING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24261, 1 April 1940, Page 6

BUTTER RATIONING

A FARCICAL POSITION PUBLIC PREFER MARGARINE LONDON, Mar. 29. Traders throughout Britain are attacking the farce of butter rationing, which is resulting in stocks piling up in warehouses while the public is rapidly acquiring preference for cheaper margarine. Despite the Boz butter ration since March 25, even well-to-do districts Eire refusing to pay the average of Is 7d per lb when the most palatable.margarine ranges from 5d to 9d. The consumption of butter in these districts averages 6oz a week, and in the poorer districts 4oz. Even in Mayfair sales are dn a 6oz basis.

The average consumption throughout Britain before the war was Boz but the price was then Is 2d per lb. The Food Minister Mr W. S. Morrison, expresses the opinion that it is too complicated to fix prices according to grades. Mr Lennox Boyd, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, states that stocks of foodstuffs in Britain are far greater than before •the outbreak of war. “I am confident that we can guarantee the people adequate supplies, however long the war lasts,” he said. The Minister said that in order to keep down prices Britain was spending weekly between £3OOO and £4OOO on flour, £300,000 on meat, and £250,000 on milk. As regards butter, it was questionable whether artificially keeping down the price of an article for which there was an adequate substitute was justifiable.