PENNY ICE CREAMS

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22492, 29 January 1943, Page 4

PENNY ICE CREAMS

Popular Delicacy Disappears CHILDREN’S LINES IN SHORT SUPPLY No penny ice creams is the latest hardship to be inflicted on Timaru children. When the present supplies are exhausted, a “Timaru Herald ’ representative was informed yesterday, there will be no more penny cones, as the factory which manufactures them is without sufficient staff to turn out the quantities required. Chocolates and other confectionery lines have disappeared from the gleaming glass jars on “lolly” shop shelves, and businesses have had to depend entirely on soft drinks, ice creams and milk shakes for trade, and now even these lines are threatened. The manufacture of soft drinks is governed by the amount of sugar available, and. although Timaru shops have been severely rationed, there has been, as yet, no such acute shortage as experienced in larger centres. Heavy supplies of cordials go to the canteens in military camps, but a more direct effect from the Armed Forces is felt when large numbers of men are on leave. Although milk bars have been declared essential, they are unable to obtain the essences, or a sufficient quota of sugar to make their own. Milk shakes must now be sold cautiously, and also ice creams. Malt and honey have been substituted for sugar in order to meet the demand for ice cream, and now cones are in short supply. Timaru milk bars are also experiencing difficulty in replacing stocks of dishes for special refreshments. It is the small shop-keeper, the typical “man-and-wlfe” business, who is taking the hardest blow from the scarcity of sugar-produced goods. There probably has never been such a summer for spending, but the shopkeeper with less and less to sell is not getting his share of the prosperity. Overhead expenses have increased, and wages and rents are ahead of the takings in many instances. “Look at my shelves,’ said one sweets shop proprietor. "Empty, and my three shops are all the same. All I have to sell is ice cream, soft drinks and milk shakes. When a child comes in with a penny to spend I have nothing to give him!”