PROFITEERING RIOTS IN ITAL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 1, 26 September 1919, Page 10

PROFITEERING RIOTS IN ITAL

i OFFICERS KILLED IN BATTLE FOR ! . SAUSAGES. .• " ' Milan/ July 0. War against high prices aiv *[~cantors is laging all over Italy. Shops where goods are believed -to-have been concealed to avoid sales at tho; prices fixed by municipalities are pillaged. In some places the disturbances'are very , serious. At Florence a street battle was 1 fought in which officers wero stabbed and many soldiers and demonstrators wound- '. ed. At Brescia one person was killed and '.'0 wero wounded. Prices at Genoa (as at Gome) have been cut down by half. Looting went:on at Milan all day. Nearly 100 shops were , 'emptied and wrecked.. Sausages,- eheeße, '. ■ boots, and clothes formed the chief booty. The _ municipal authorities published a I manifesto lowering all prices by .one-half. 1 Curious, scenes occurred at, the restau- ! rants, where customers immediately re- | tusod to pay more thai) half the hill. A few were wounded in rioting and aboiit ' 100(1 were arrested. The Government announces-a conipre'lensivo series of measures by which it will control the provision, distribution, and prices of prime necessities, from food ■to Lmcls. There will lx> severe penalities for everyone-overcharging or concealing goods. Popular outbreaks having shown the , necessity for prompt and definite action ', to avert the danger of a worse evil, all depends on the capacity and energy of the authorities in carrying out an' aik niiltcdiy complicated task.—"Daily*Mail.