GERMAN SHORTAGE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18551, 10 November 1934, Page 15

GERMAN SHORTAGE

SUBSTITUTES BOUGHT ANIMAL SOAP j OATMEAL COCOA BERLIN, Sept. 25. The first signs of the expected winter shortage in Germany are already beginning to show themselves in the use of substitute ingredients in the necessities of everyday life. Following the introduction of licenses for the manufacture of soap, manufacturers are now required to use a proportion of animal fat instead of vegetable oils, which have to be imported. The new product has already reached the housewife, who notes that the resulting soap is softer and does not last so long.

In consequence old stocks are being rapidly bought up. Oatmeal is now being put into chocolate and cocoa to reduce the proportion ot cacao beans which supply the characteristic. flavor.

CELLULOSE WOOL Substitute materials are now making tlieir first appearance in the wholesale trade, though they have not yet. reached the retail shops. The chief of these is a mixture of wool and cellulose. Itlooks and feels like wool, ami -.vrim creased resumes its former' shape in the same way as genuine material. It will not, however, stand' the test of rain. When allowed, to' dry after being wet. boils appear, and' if handled before it is dry it goes iilt'6' holes. A special ionUula has Been devised to meet- the inquiries of anxious customfe'rs. When asked whether a given profdneb; is genuine or not, tile' shopkeeper will in future reply, ‘‘This is the best ! qUi(Rty permitted under the official -regulations'now in force.” Imports of fruit are likely to he severely curtailed, if not entirely forbidden, d|irin‘g the forthcoming winter. Curiously enough, the chief exception is likely to be'oranges grown by Jewish cultivators in Palestine. BARTER, WITH JEWS ! The reason for this departure from anti-Semitic policy' is to be found in barter arrangements which have been concluded between Germany arid Palestine. I understand that the plan—worked out by a Jewish bank—for assuring .a winter supply of oranges from Jaffa was welcomed here with open arms.

The result of all these measures has been a renewed tendency to hoarding as during the war. Purchasers are showing great anxiety to obtain foreign products of good' quality, and in consequence prices have risen.

It, has to-day been found necessary to issue an order forbidding the sale of foreign products at prices above those ruling for similar products on the world market; plus a percentage for cost of transport and reasonable profit. Heavy penalties 'are'''threatened for shopkeepers who transgress these, new regulations.