A YEAR'S RATIONING

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 173, 16 April 1919, Page 7

A YEAR'S RATIONING

ANNIVERSARY OF BRITISH FOOD CONTROL

3,000,000,000 CARDS, BOOKS AND LEAFLETS

■ It is a year to-day (says the London "Times" of February 25) since the London and Home Counties rationing schema came into operation. Sugar'had been rationed from December 31,1917, but the introduction of meat and butter or margarine cards was generally regarded as marking the definite adoption by the Food Controller of the rationing principle. The us,o of food cards was sanctioned with reluctance as a means to put an end to the evil of the street queues. In some quarters it was expected. that rationing ivuiuii lead to cuimision wittiout easing a' difficult situation. We know now that the system, begun in London, extended'.on April 8 to. the rest of the country, and gradually developed until control was secured over the consumption of all foods of which a. scarcity arose, lias worked with quite remarkable siiiootnuess and success.

The need for rationing is now disappearing, and after the end of April only one.or two articles will continue to be doled out on the basis of fixed weekly quantities. Busy housekeepers, how-. ever, will always remember that food cards.and ration books, although they brought with tnem their own inconveniences, saved them time and hardship in making food purchases and ensured an equitable distribution of meat, butter, margarine, lard, and other articles which, without rationing, many people would have been unable to obtain. Coupons Honoured in Full. The nipst remarkable justification of the food administration sot up in Great Britain is that from the day rationing was introduced the coupons, have been honoured in full. An argument often put forward against rationing was that lood tickets did not guarantee food, and in Germany this undoubtedly was true, but in Britain there have been very few instances, and these of a temporary and strictly localised' character, where retailers have been without sufficient supplies to provide the rationed requirements of their registered customers. To sugar, butter, margarine, butcher's meat, and bacon—foods first rationed— lard and jam were subsequently added, and in some cities tea and cheese have also been rationed locally. Bacon, pork, butcher's offals, lard, and margarine are how ration free, and local control of the consumption of tea has also been withdrawn. The sugar ration has been increased, and in the case of the average family may be. regarded as sufficient to meet normal'. demands. Butter, beef, mutton, and lamb will require controlled distribution for some time to come. Enormous Output of Printing. In one matter the critics of rationing spoke truly. They said it would involve an enormous volume of printing. The output of tho printing branch of the Ministry at Food in 1918. amounted to nearly 3,000,000,000 documents.- lu connection with the original ration cards the total number of forms and cards printed was 81,000,000. For tho first issue of ration books 40,000,000 books of eleven leaves for adults, 10,000,000 books of nine leaves for children, some 20,000,fiffl books of. four leaves for persons entitled to supplementary rations on the ground'of occupations, and 6,000,000 books for the use of soldiers and sailors on leave wore prepared. It is slated that the materials used for this one. issue included 53,000 reams of paper, 33 tons of metal for type, and 4580 miles of wire for stitching the boots.. A' •second issue of ration books in November last year involved the printing of ,36,000,000 adult books of thirteen leaves each, 6,000,000 books of eleven leaves each for children and about a million travellers' books. The paper used weighed 1250 tons. Apart from the ration cards and books, leaflets and forms had to be circulated on an extensive scale. In one week, for instance, during the period, of the early rationing ''scheuVo three documents sent out ran to ten, fifteen, and twenty million leaflets respectively. Fifteen million envelopes were manufactured to post books to the heads of households. In addition to this work directly associated with rationing, local food control committee!) are continuously circularised with statutory, rules, orders, and instructions.