GERMANY’S FOOD SHORTAGE.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 January 1917, Page 2

GERMANY’S FOOD SHORTAGE.

Opposition to Restrictions.

(Australia & N.Z. Cable Association)

Amsterdam, Jan 29

An official statement by the Imperial German Food Office declares that despite the favourable corn crops the Germans’ position was worse in 1916, owing to the failure of potatoes. The system of economy must be carried out immediately if it is to be poo-übh for the nation to hold out until next harvest.

Tho imports from neutral countries are also decresping iu quantity, and foodstuffs are very scarce.. Strict organisation is necessary to meet this difficulty owing to the opposition and resistance of largo sections of the population to tho ordinances and leStrictions fssued.

CONDITIONS IN RUSSIA

Four Maatless Days

[ItKUTEE’S SERVICE.—COPY EIGHT. I

London, Jan 28

. The “ Times ” Petrograd correspondent in a special article dealing with the scarcity of food, after narrating the Buffeting* of the poorer people who are compelled to wait in queues for hours iu the intense cold, says that necessities, excepting tea, have risen from two to t6n times on peace prices. There are now four meatless days. The regulations of several departments overlap and the elaborate procedure results in endless quarrelling and delay before supplies are obtainable. While admitting the inadequacy of the railways to cope with military food and transport, it is no wonder that the people are most angry with the Government’s inefficiency.

BRITAIN'S POSITION. Ration System Expected. London, Jan 29 Mr W. C. Anderson (M.P. for Attercliffe), opeaklug at a Leicester meeting to protest against high prices, Baid that he was not giving- away a secret in saying that the population of the country would very shortly be put under a ration system.

AUSTRIAN FAMINE.

Millions of Sufferers

(Australia & N.Z. Cable Association,) London, Jan 29 The “ Mcrnibg Post’s ” Budapest correspondent states that the latest feature of the food crisis is the growing desperation of the women who are unable to provide their children with the bare necessaries of life. Many are absolutely without coal, j etroleum wood, and milk, and piic33 in many cases have risen 300 per cent to 1000 per cent while the stock of rice in the country amounts io 50 wagon loadß. Beef is costing 10/ per k.logramme, fat 79/, and batter 10/8. New vegetables cannot be expected before July, and unless a miracle happens famine in the worst form is inevitable,- /

The fixing of maximum prices has resulted in the holding up of stocks, and has thus far cau-ed a greater scarcity. Some relief was afforded by pig slaughtering, but tba richer Budapest families bought up thousands of small pigs in the spring and had them fed in the country, receiving considerable supplies of pork and fat. This wholesale slaughter is going on because the Governments prohibits the use of maize for fedder. It is possible to restrict tba feeding of a few hundred thousand in a besieged city, but with 120,000,000 it is not so easily managed. The hundreds of thousands of Socialists and other disaffected elements must be reckoned with, while millions of women be’ reaved and poverty-stricken possess but one single thought—how to feed th6ir children. It is impossible to reason with them on political or patriotic grounds. The next few months will reveal the strength of millions cf uninstructed and desperate women who hava given their sous and husbands to the war and who now find they can endure the misery no longer.

A Marvellous Operation (Received Jan 30, at 9,10 a.m ) 1 Paris, Jin 29 ■ Surgeon-Major Ravers.ey extracted a bullet from a soldier’s heart wherein it had lodged for several months. He is entirely cured. Short of Coal Paris Jan 22 The Petit Parbiea’s Zurich correspondent st >t;s 23 Berlin ei-hocls have been closed, owi. g to the lack of coal. Russian Successes (Australian & N.Z. Cable Association and Router.) (Admiralty, per Whelesa Press). London, Jau 29 Russian official—We atfcaoked with the bayonet south-west of Potatory, southward of Riz?sjany, taking the first line. We repelled raging Turkish counter attacks and exploded six -Turkish mine galleries, demolished the trenches and withdrew. Turks twice ui.Aiked but were driven back. We prisonered 2,030 on Saturday i iu lbs battle aocth a w&at of Fakobeus;