NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16148, 28 February 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

V/ JJJL XIJL JLU J- 1 A'w* . * ' THE FOOD CONTROLLER. It is quite safe to say that Lord Rhondda, the British Food Controller, has beon of late the most criticised man in an official position in Great Bntain. i Evorv food queue has Represented a long lino 'of colct, weary, resentful critics, who in their annoyance at being unable to buy what they -wanted in the customary pre-war way, and at tho very small quantities that they -were able to j buy at all, have not improbably blamod Lord llhondda for conditions for which j the Kaiser was really responsible. 0t all thankless jobs on earth, that of controlling and restricting the food supply of a nation accustomed, in large part, to eat and drink as much as it liked, or at least could afford, is assurediy the most thankless. Now that compulsory rationing, so far as greater London and the surrounding districts are concerned, has become necessary, as he has, for some time past, believed would be the case, the number of his critics should have decreased, as this step has been advocated for several months. But I whether they liars decreased or as is quite possible, increased, they will admit his fairness and his independence, and his public-spirited action in taking over a task of such difficulty. If it is true, as in a way it undoubtedly is, that food will win the war. then Lord Rhondda, helping his fo!li;w-countrymon, and women, to tide over a period of scarcity by careful management, must bo accounted one of the chief factors in Britain's eventual victory. SETTING A GOOI> EXAMPLE. Nobody certainly can assert that Lord Rhondda does not practise what he preaches. Alike in food and drink, he is one of the most abstemious of men. Coffee is his only stimulant, he does not drink,'on an average, more than one cup of tea in a week, both coffee and tea are milkless. Latterly he has, on three or four days a week, boen consuming no meat, bacon, bread, sugar, tea, or milk, and though his doctor warned him of the risk he ran in his zeal to teach by example as well as precept, he has never been in better health. Here was the Food Controller's average daily dietary in December:— Breakfast.—Oatmeal porridge, kippered herring, coffee, iio bread. Lunch. —Fish, with potatoes, banana, custard coffee. J>inner.—Fish with potato (sometimes au egg), nuts, fruit (apple or pear), just now medlars. His day begins after breakfast with papers and correspondence (9.30); he goes to his office shortly before eleven, and stays till 7.30. "And he is as lit as can be." A NAVAL BLUFF. A contributor descrioed as an officer of tho British Royal is aval Reserve lias told the Now York "Times" an extraordinary tale of a dummy squadron of vessels,which simulated Biitisn warships in \tho North Sea. The fact that it is stated that tho British Admiralty "no longer objected" to the story being told is not necessarily a guarantee of its accuracy, but niereiv an indication that the. of the Navy do not think its publication can do any harm. It may be a piece of ''camouflage." What makes one suspicious is that the story does Hot quite "hang together" in parts. Tho squadron, for instance, is described as consisting of wooden ships, but tiicy are also referred to as being old merchant steamers of 9COO tons, some of them having been Atlantic liners, while the "flagship" is said to havo been the German ship Kronprinzessiu Cecilic, captured iri the fiist •week of tho war, and henceforth employed to scare her former consorts off tho seas. THE "SUICIDE SQUADRON." This squadron, known as the "Suicide Squadron, 1 ' or the ''iiock Turtles," was organised for special service in tue first year of the war, and was then apparently disbanded. Its base -jy-as a little •scottish port, and it is said to have made an appalling show of fighting as it lay at anchor in the little harbour. "Never (says tho writer), havo I seen warships with appearance moro genuine, ilugb grey monsters they were, with double turrets foro and aft, from which, great guns protruded. All had steam up for a dash to sea ready to engage a prowling enemy at any moment. "But on board the joke was evident ht a glance. Tlifc lighting turrets were wooden barns, with baro rafters inside. Tho great guns were logs, graduated from a sawmill, tapered and bored in exact imitation of naval cannon. Not a single real gun aboard! We could not have sunk a rowlwat! Tho deck was covered with tighcly-stretchod canvaspainted grey to represent the smooth steel deck of a man-of-war, so that reconnoitring airplanes would be deceived. A dummy smokestack aft made the sh«p look more like a war vessel ftfid less like the merchantman she had been oof on- doming this" disguise. The bridge was no longer that of a liner, but an exact duplicate of those on battleships." The mission of this amazing squadron, of whos» existence v.e have some doubt, was apparently to cruise about tie North Sea ar.d try to draw the enemy out. in which capacity, it is alleged, it played no unimportant part in the batxle'of Jutland. It had many escapes .irom submarines, and lost one or two of its ships by being torpedoed. When any Gorman warships appeared on tho iioiinon the squadron steamed away at its best speed, but though this was only about half that of the enemy, the latter never pursued their advantage. Then, as now. they "wero not looking for trouble."

We hrive summarised the story as it is told; our readers may believo it or uot as they chooso.