THE EMPIRE'S WAR ACTIVITIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 88, 7 August 1942, Page 3

THE EMPIRE'S WAR ACTIVITIES

PROFITEERING

NOT REQUESTED

WAR 'PLACES

SALE OF RASPBERRIES

Asked at a Press conference in London if lie co-ulcl stop the sale of raspberries in London at seven shillings a pound, Lord Woolton, the Food Minister, replied with an emphatic, "No —why should I? I am trying to distribute food, not to deal with mental deficiency. If anyone pays seven shillings a pound for raspberries lie is ioolish, and so i- 1 ' the retailer who puts tlicni up at that price l . We are at Avar. We are lighting for our very existence. I really have some tiling else to do than deal with the folly of a person who charges seven bob for raspberries." Lord "Woolton recalled that after a raid on London strawberries were offered at a guinea a basket in a shop outside which men were repairing bomb damage. "One o i f the men told me in a language which it would pay you to hear what he thought of that particular -shop," Lord Woolton added. "Well, I have an account at that shop and I have not been in since." —Manchester Guardian.

BLANKETS FOR WAR PRISONERS An inquiry lias been niacin regarding allegations that the number oi" blankets issued to prisoners 01 war has been reduced. The protecting power has nowhere found any reduction in the number oi' blankets at the disposal of prisoners. The Prisoners of War Inquiry Office quoted a cable to show that the International Red Cross does not neglect any prisoner once his address is known. New Zealand has only four internees at Laghaout, near Algiers, and an inquiry office 'brought from Geneva the reply that the American Red Cross had confirmed the fact that its consular agent was effecting regular dispatches of food, cigarettes and clothing, and that the distribution was controlled by the International Red Cross delegate. Official prisoners now on file at Wellington total 61211, with 14 unofficial.

FOR THE MIDDLE EAST "The. delivery of war planes to the British in Egypt will be vastly simplified and accelerated by a new service to be conducted by the PanAmerican Airways system under agreement with the United States Government. Viewed as a complementary operation to the one set up in the United States to fly newlybuilt planes from the factories to Slipping poiints, the Pan American .service will enable the British in the Levant to obtain the planes well within a week after their completion. Preparations are going forward to handle as many as 500 planes for delivery along tlic PanAmerican route within the near future." —New York Journal of Commerce .