OUR LONDON LETTER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21554, 17 January 1940, Page 9

OUR LONDON LETTER

Allied Victories On Trade Front

Farm Troubles In Germany

(From Our Own Correspondent)

LONDON. December 15

Traders abroad who complain that British methods are “slow” may have to revise their opinion in view of the new energy injected by the war. In countries all over the world scattered dumps of essential goods testify to the alertness of business men who are acting as unofficial buying agents for the joint needs of Britain and France. Most of these goods have been snapped up under the noses of German buyers.

Backed by Government support, the British and French agents are able to offer immediate cash. Though paid for at once, the goods are generally warehoused to await shipment to Europe. The immediate aim is to prevent German buyers from securing them. Germany’s complicated system of barter and payment in kind, by which she concluded many deals in peacetime, now hampers her buyers abroad. Sellers fear that the Allied blockade will prevent the Nazis from delivering what they promise. Plight of German Agriculture

German agriculture, on the Nazis’ own admission, is suffering more than any other department of national life from the wartime labour shortage. Some hundreds of thousands of workers are declared to be needed. There is acknowledged to be little prospect of satisfying this need, in spite of the compulsory mobilisation of girls for land work and the employment of Polish war prisoners.

The latest official survey states that three-quarters of the country’s agricultural land is not farmed to full advantage. The Germans claim that they produce at home 100 per cent of the nation’s peacetime (unrationed) consumption of both milk and sugar. Yet both of these have been strictly controlled since the war began. Only children under 15 get any milk at all, while the basic sugar allowance is 7ozs. a head.

What America Thinks To be discussing already not merely possible armistice terms, but the actual peace treaty, may seem premature to those who are fighting the war. But in the neutral United States the settlement to be imposed on the vanquished Germany is now a lively topic. A national test ballot just taken shows that the American man-in-the-street does not altogether share the “liberal” altitude of most of the political leaders. Fifty-four per cent, of the voters think that the treaty at the end of this war should be “more severe” than Ver-

sailles. Only 36 per cent, share what seems to be the general view of responsible Washington spokesmen—that the terms should be less harsh than those of 1919. The remaining 10 per cent, of citizens questioned either declined to give any opinion or thought that the new treaty should be on much the same lines as Versailles.

Army Asks for Horses Although the British Army is in no immediate need of horses, a register is being opened so that the War Office will know what animals are available in this country. Owners and breeders do not consider the maximum price of £6O as a very generous one for the quality of hunter and light-vanner horses which the Government is seeking. But the register is voluntary, and there will be no compulsion to sell. Petrol rationing and the general shortage of motor transport have sent up the civilian demand for horses, ano also their price. There are about 1,100,000 horses on the farms of the United Kingdom, and it is reckoned that not more than 200,000 of them are suitable for Army requirements—if the farmers would part with them. Private owners and tradesmen could probably provide a better type of horse, and it is for them that the new register is chiefly intended.

Brighter France The few travellers who get permission to come and go across the Channel report that French wartime restrictions on normal life are less irksome than some of those in England. Londoners groping their way home in the blackout often talk wistfully of the brighter lights of Paris. Now we learn that the French Riviera and Monte Carlo are also easing their restrictions. This is because “tourism” is one of France’s essential industries. The casinos and the big hotels are reopening, and the shops are allowed to keep their lights on until normal clos-ing-time. Theoretically, petrol is rationed in France, but motorists are able to get practically all they need. Another regulation which has been abolished, at least on the Riviera, is the one which required a visitor to obtain a special permit before he could travel from one place to another. Tourists may now move about as they please.

Home Thoughts from the Front? Men at the front doubtless have other things to think about than Parliamentary by-elections. But in case some of them may be worrying about their franchise, the authorities have reassured them that being on active service does not deprove a man (or woman either) of the right to vote. Members of the Forces are advised to register as “absent voters.”

If, when an election takes place in their home constituencies, they are still quartered in this country they may vote by post. If they are overseas the procedure is more complicated. The soldier appoints a proxy to vote on his behalf, and this proxy then has to satisfy the returning officer at the poll that he has proper authority. Since the chief parties have made a byelection truce for the duration of the war, the only contested elections will be those for which “freak” candidates come forward. Few soldiers, therefore, are likely to take the trouble to register as absent voters.

“Bootleg” Petrol Though petrol rationing has been in force for three months, some motorists are still able to get as much as they want. Privately hoarded reserves can hardly have lasted as long as this, and the authorities are puzzled to know where the extra petrol is coming from. There is a suspicion that certain motorists obtain supplementary rations on the plea that they need their cars for important work, and then re-sell their petrol at high prices to others. A more likely explanation is that garage and filling-stations proprietors are selling off before finally closing down their businesses. Believing that it will not be worth while carrying on after their pre-war stocks are exhausted, some of them are supplying whatever their customers ask, without regard to the coupons. The illicit trade, therefore, will soon die a natural death.