BOHEMIA FACES STARVATION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14516, 30 January 1918, Page 6

BOHEMIA FACES STARVATION.

NO WHEAT, NO MEAT, AND NO POTATOES.

2 POUNDS BREAD WEEKLY. LONDON, Dec. 10. The food situation in parts of Austria notably Bohemia, is at present mofe critical than at any previous period of the war, according to letters which have been received by Czechs here, after evading' the Austrian censorship. Bohemia, both owing to her geographical situation and the concentration oi her population in the industrial districts, has always been dependent on outside assistance a. far as her food supply is concerned. PLIGHT IS DESPERATE. "You can't conceive what a desperate plight we are in," says one writer, "and it will be even worse as winter comes on, for there has been no harvest to speak of. Owing to the drought, everything has been burned up. There "isno wheat and soon there will be no potatoes. Nobody sees how we can endure another winter. Even the peasant farmers have not enough for themselves. There i's practically no meat — you can, perhaps, buy a scrap once a week after standing for four hours in line. There are strikes and demonstrations everywhere, but the newspapers are. not, allowed to say anything about them." Another letter says : "The rations per head are now : Bread, two pounds weekly; flour,, for married people only, one pound weekly; potatoes, one pound weekly; sugar, half a pcpind weekly. Bub in reality it is practically impossible to obtain one's full allowance of anything. Food is issued on Fridays and Saturdays every week. The management of the food bureau attempts lo satisfy our appetites by providing the most terrible *bread, the mere sight ot which often upsets the starving stomach. MEALS LACK NOURISHMENT. "It is true we have the much-vaunted soup kitchens,* whioh provide a midday meal. But the meal is no longer anything nourishing, but only water containing beets, clover and turnip. The war vegetables are occasionally supplemented' with horse meat when things are going badly on the front. Thus, when the Italian offensives were going badly against us, many wagonloads of dead horses were brought to the factory kitchens to bo made into soup. These kitchens supply the invalid soldiers and also the foreign workmen, the latter mostlv Poles." Situation is desperate. Corroborative evidence of the critical situation in Bohemia is found in several moro official sources. In the Austrian Budget Committee, M. Zenker * declared that the shoi'tage of flour and bread wan now almost complete. "If th'c Government really desires to continue the Avar," he said, "it will have to. take some -very urgent measures. We AA'ill afttmrard have something to say about Hungary, Arhioli would be well-advised to giA'o Avay and let us have some of her stored-up food, if she does not Avant to see a current of overwhelming opinion rise against Budapest to the great detriment of the dual monarchy.". In the Austrian upper house, on October 27 Dr. Gilbert Helmer, Lord Abbot of Tepl, and one, of the most influential churchmen in Austria-Hun-gary, said : "Terrible >\-ant reigns in the districts of Gablonz, Rumburg and Warnsdorf, and in the Erzgehirge. Conditions in the last-named district are appalling, owing to tho failure of the Czech population to do their duty to the community in handing over foodstuffs. It is even widely reported that the failure of the Czechs to hand over their foods hoards is due to rebellious ' nationalistic aspirations." *