BELGIAN FOOD ISSUE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 148, 29 August 1941, Page 6

BELGIAN FOOD ISSUE

« MOST CRITICAL OF ALL, EUROtPE EXORBITANT PRICES CHARGED Clandestine markets with exorbitf *mt prices., inability to secure imports and the demands of German troops of occupation were said by the Agriculture Department to have made the food situation in Belgium probably the most critical in Euiope. Food rations at present allowed th? Belgian population were des* cribed as "extremely scanty." Reports indicate, the department ■said, that present rations of bread, flour and cereals were little, if at all , over one-half of peacetime consumption. The normal consumer's meat and fat rations were said to be probably between one-fourth and one-third of consumption before the j outbreak of war. "These rations, however are largely theoretical, and the population in the urban and industrial centres are unable," said the department, "to get their full allowances." The department said there were many clandestine markets where people of means can buy additional food at exorbitant prices absolutely «ut of reach for low and average income groups. Pointing out that Belgian is basically dependent upon imports of large quantities of food and feeds, the department said that the British tlcckade as well as German control «.ver the Belgian economy had aggravated the food situation. It said Germany exercises priority over the Belgium industrial output, which, in turn, provides the country's enly buying power for food

and supplies for abroad. The department said this latter fact was credibly xeported to have been responsible lor Belgium's fail-* ure in recent negotiations with Rus j sia for grain. ''Money incomes are low, and even food prices—to say nothing of the prices in the clandestine markets— have risen substantially. An even more important point is that the shops are simply not supplied with the quantities required to honour the ration coupons. Fats and meats cannot as a rule be purcliased even in the small amounts of the rations. The potato ration, which in theory is i.ot much below normal consumption, in practice is not more than a third of the legal allowance."