FOOD QUESTION.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7710, 20 April 1916, Page 4

FOOD QUESTION.

PRESSING PROBLEM IN GERMANY. Mrs Julian Grande, better known as Miss Constance Bamicoat, a New Zealander, who contributes interesting articles to the Christchurch “Press” on internal conditions in Germany, dealt recently with the food supplies of Germany. Mrs Grande, who lives in Berne, and is in touch with the German Press and other German sources of information, is in an exceptionally good, position to write about such matters. In this letter she says that while there can be no question of actually starving Germany out, nevertheless articles of food in very general demand have become much dearer and scarcer, in particular flour, meat, butter, lard, and all kinds of edible fats and oils. In peace time the average consumption of bread per day was about lib lioz avoirdupois; but the present ration is only a little more than As this quantity is insufficient for a man or woman engaged in severe physical labor, about 3£oz extra daily is allowed them, but this does not bring the ration up to the pound. “The short bread allowance would matter less,’’ says Mrs Grande, “were meat, eggs, butter and milk cheap, which they are not. Potatoes even are much dearer than usual, and they arc admittedly usually bad. Moreover, within the last few days the maximum prices of all vegetables have been considerably raised. Coffee, which is the German national household beverage, is also dearer and scarcer, so that in the country districts of South Germany the people have to be content with a plate of soup and a piece of bread in the morning for breakfast.’’ At present (this was written in February) Germany has two meatless days a week, two fatless days, and one day with meat, but without pork, the remaining two days being without restrictions. “These meatless and fatless and porkless days are naturally telling on the people, and the average German has considerably decreased in size and weight. In short, to some extent lie is living on his tail, but his tail being very fat, lie will probably for a long time continue to be able to live on it. I know of several Swiss working men, who went recently to Germany to work in factories and at ammunition making, but who speedily returned to their own country, saying that they could not put up with the food and the meatless and fatless days. So numerous arc the regulations in force in Germany now, not merely about food, but about all manner of maximum prices and commandeerings, that more than one judicial decision has recently laid it down that it is the duty of every German citizen, man or woman, to read at least one newspaper daily, in order to be acquainted with the new rules and regulations as they come into force. ’ ’