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Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16168, 23 March 1918, Page 8

Letters from correspondents in England which have appeared in "The Press" recently have given ail insight into privations which British householders are suffering in consequence of the war, but perhaps a recent notification from the office of the Ministry of Food illustrates the condition of affairs as vividly as possible. This was to the effect that in view of the shortage of butter the Department had been carrying out experiments in older tc find suitable and economical ways of eking out the available butter mid margarine supplies by mixing in othei food substances and so producing chcip and palatable *übstitutes. These ex-

periments had shown that an excellent "potato butter," costing only about 5d per lb (or less if margarine is used) could easily be made in accordance with the recipe given. We do not suppose that any of our readers vill need to use any such substitute, seeing that we are able to get the best butter in the world for Is Sd per Jt>, but it may be of interest if we reproduce tho instructions given by the Ministry of Food:— Peel the potatoes and boil {or steam) until they fall to pieces -and become floury. Rub through a fire sieve into a large basin which nns been previously warmed. To every 14oz of mashed potato add 2oz of butter or margarine and one teaspoonful of salt. Stir thoroughly with tho back of a wooden spoon until, the whole is quite smooth. The butter may then be made up into pounds or half-pounds and kept in a cool place. It is added that the "potato butter" may bo improved in appearance by the addition of a few drops of butter '•olouring, and if it is to be kept a:ore than a few days butter preservative should be used.

A neutral correspondent, writing in "The Times," says that tlie Christmas just past has been the gloomiest in the history of Germany. Everybody knows how great a . part ihe Christmas tree plays in German celebrations of Christmas. It was from Germany that tho custom was Introduced in England. There was a dearth of Christmas trees in Berlin at Christmas, 1915, and people lent their Christmas trees to each other. This Christmas there was an abundance of tree? and the prices were not high, but thc-y remained unpurchased. Tho explanation is that people could get no candles, and a Christmas tree without candles would have been too sad ii spectacle. But the German peoDle had far more serious subjects for concern than this, and one of the most serious is the docline in the number cf children. Dysentery and tuberculosis have been especially rife —the former especially due to food shortage -.nd improper food. There is also a heavy decline in the birth-rate. In Dresden, which is cited as an example, vp to October, 1915,-the number of births was roguiarly m excess of tho number of deaths, but thero has been an excess of births over deaths in two months only, namely. May and September, 1916. In all tho other months the number of deaths was larger than ',he number of births. In 1916 there were G440 deaths compared with 5817 births. In January, 191T, the figures were: Births 474, deaths 721; excess of deaths over births 247. In February tlio deaths were SB3 and the birt'as 449. or an excess of deaths over births of 434. This, of course, is quite apart from tho toil which death is taking from the German soldiers at the front.

Prince Lichnowsky, whoso memorandum testifying to tho good faith of Viscount Grey in tho days before tho vrar has caused a commotion in Germany, was the German Ambassador to Britain when war broke out. When htf returned to Germany tho Prince disappeared from public notice, and it was widely believed that he had fallen into disfavour as the man chiefly' responsible for the German Government's belief, which was firm until the end, that Britain would contrive to remain neutral. However that may bo, lie effaced himself pretty completely, leaving behind in Britain the impression that the war was a sad blow to him. When wo last heard of him he was engaged in a controversy over the "MittolEuropa" idea. He held strongly tnat an exclusive Middle Europe combination was very undesirable from the point of view even of Germany.

In the memorandum, which lias been widely circulated in Germany and which has evidently enraged the German Government, the Prince appears to have written in praise not only of Viscount Grey's conduct in the famous "twelve days," but of his conduct of foreign policy generally. Viscount Grey seoms to have been represented by the Prince as working constantly for reconciliation, in contrast with the insistence of the Wilhelmstrass© upon "the strict Triple Alliance policy." Naturally, the German Government's spokesmen deny the facts and refuse the inferences in Prince Lichnowsky's pamphlet. There is nothing else for thorn, to do. But the main facts of the Haldane visit to Berlin in 1912 are quite indisputable, and these make it abundantly clear that British foreign policy was as frank and pacific as Germany's was tortuous and dark and aggressive. Tlio Prince's memorandum is another terrifying blow —terrifying, from the point of view of tho German chauvinists—at the fiction, upon which the German people have been fed, that the war was plotted by Britain, and that Viscount Grey was the villain of the piece.