Reduce Politics To Pantry Is Woman's View

Chronicle (Levin), 20 October 1949, Page 4

Reduce Politics To Pantry Is Woman's View

Reduce politics to the pantry and women will start to take more interest, said the noted New Zealand novelist, Miss Nelle Scanlon, when speaking in the Regent Hall, Levin, yesterday at the council meeting of the Southern Wellington Federation of Women's Institutes. Miss Scanlon was criticising the tendency of politicians to review shipments of food to Britain by the employment of a ibewildering mass of high figures. Instead of giving the numbers in tons and thousands of carcases it would be preferable if the authorities "boiled it down to per stomach," and told the people of New Zealand exactly how many persons in Englanfi would benefit by the shipments and by how much. "Wby talk about so many thousand carcases and so many million pounds (sterling) when most of us think in terms of 7s 6d?" she asked. Illustratirig her *point, Miss Scanlon told of an experience she had- had in England. Christmas had been approaching and the people had been told that an increase in the meat ration would be made for the occasion, the announcement giving the details in tremen'dous overall figures. Everyone had looked forward to the event in terms of large, juicy roasts until an economist had got down to working it out in detail. His findings had been that the individual would receive 2d worth of bully beef and one-third of one sausage. People were misled hy the big figures published periodically of foo'd leaving New Zealand for Britain.