Cats, Whales And Horses

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 11, 9 January 1948, Page 5

Cats, Whales And Horses

Diet Problems Facing Citizens In England “Cats, whales and horses,” was the forceful answer of a recent visitor to England when a Beaceif'representative asked him yesterday what the English people were eating just now. Then he qualified it a bit. He wasn’t certain about the cats. But the picture he painted was grim. About the time the New Zealand Boy Scouts'went over for the world jamboree, Mr John Ensor, of Gisborne, keenly interested in scouting, decided to take a trip to England and perhaps take in the jamboree while there. Just back, he arrived at Wbakatane yesterday. He hadn’t been to France. They told him conditions were worse there than in England so he decided whales and horses were better lining for,a New Zealand stomach than frogs and jam. “Thank God!” He said none of the propaganda about the shortage of food in Britain was overdrawn. He took a food parcel with him and, when he opened it, the relative with whom he was to stay burst into tears. “Thank God,” she said, “this will help us through the winter.” Rationing is drastic, and, consequently, foods “off points” are commanding fantastic prices. Whale meat, which Mr Ensor said tastes like shark seasoned with seaweed, brings 5/6 a pound and whale sausages 2/2. At London and Dover he saw queues over half a mile long for horse meat, at prices above our local prices for good v beef. Poor Pussy

Getting back to the cat topic, he said it was not altogether a joke. There were people who really believed that poor pussy sometimes found- her way into a sausage or a pie, and it was a fact that citizens had been publicly warned to keep their cats in unless they wanted them to disappear. He gave some details of rationing. Londoners, he said, get one egg a month and half a pint of milk. They are allowed six ounces of fat, three of margarine, two of butter and one for cooking. Their soap ration is one cake of toilet soap and one bar of washing soap a month. I “I want you to tell the public as emphatically as you can,” he saiid, “that fat is of first im- ; portance in most homes in England. There are no edible oils and no substitutes for cooking fats on the market. They appreciate nothing more than soap and fat.” Starvation Danger Real For those unfortunates who had to live alone, the danger of starvation was real. Tinned goods, cereals and dried fruits were on such a stiff points system that they could be obtained only by groups. Prices for fresh fruits and vegetables (cabbages 5/6 each, grapes 17/6 a pound) put those things beyond the reach of the worker’s purse even though they were not rationed. Despite the gaunt" spectre of hunger that stalked the streets, the British people./were, living up to their reputation' for being able to “take it,” There wer few grumblers, but- there was real hardship. The away impressed with heir 'plight as well as with their courage.