JUST ONE MORE WORRY

Southland Times, Issue 24864, 2 October 1942, Page 4

JUST ONE MORE WORRY

GROCERS AND REDUCED SUGAR RATION “It is a nuisance, but it is one of those things we have to put up with these days.” This expresses the philosophical attitude of Invercargill grocers who were interviewed yesterday about the sudden announcement of the reduction in the sugar ration from 12 to 10 ounces a person a week. , The announcement upset grocers arrangements. In readiness for the beginning of the month they had made up "parcels of sugar and had worked on the assumption that the ration woiuld be unchanged. “It was not until late on Wednesday afternoon that I heard about the reductian in the ration and at first it was only in the nature of a rumour,” one gpocer said. He pointed to shelves stacked with packets of sugar. “Those pre the packets of sugar we had made trip, and, of course, this morning we lipd to set to work and take some Sugar out of every one of them,’ he said. “Of course in these days of shortage of labour it was a nuisance. 1 do not know why we were not told about the reduction sooner. No one cbuld have taken advantage of the knowledge. My opinion is that the reojuction was the result of a sudden decision by the authorities.” NO COMPLAINTS He added that he had not had any complaints from customers about the induction. People were getting used tb rationing by now. At first some had complained and wanted to know why they could not get what sugar they wanted. _ , . . “But when I explained to them that rationing was necessary for the war effort, and that after all a reduction in, the quantity of sugar was a small hardship and nothing to compare with fill the hardships and discomforts that people in other countries had to endure, they usually agreed that my argument was reasonable,” the grocer Another grocer said that he packed his sugar in lots based on the weekly ration of 12 ounces a week. He had had to reduce the quantity in every packet that morning. It was a troublesome business, but the job had been done and so Sir as he was concerned that was ie end of it. He explained that it Slaved time to have the sugar ready backed because since rationing was introduced there had always been a "heavy demand for sugar at the begining of a month. Apparently many people found the former ration just .sufficient and lost no time in replenishing their stocks after the beginning of a month. CONCESSION TO GROCERS (P.A.) WELLINGTON, October 1. To meet the difficulties of shopkeepers who before the announcement yesterday of the reduction in the civilian sugar ration had already weighed iip sugar in accordance with the previous ration scale, the Rationing Controller, Mr J. E. Thomas, announced that retailers would not be required to tebag such sugar into multiples of 10 ounces provided the total weight of sugar supplied to any registered customer did not exceed 40 ounces, that is, g’-lb for October. To overcome this difficulty of reweighing, a suggestion Khat coupons 23 and 24 be redeemed al a value of 12 ounces each and 25 and 26 at a value of 8 ounces each has been gspted and approved and has already n adopted by many retailers. It st be clearly understood, however, t replacements of retailers’ stocks of sugar will be made on a basis not exceeding 2£lb for four coupons, comprising numbers 23 to 26 inclusive.