THE FOOD QUESTION.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 January 1918, Page 3

THE FOOD QUESTION.

RATIONING INEVITABLE. LONDON, Jan. 25. Lord Rhondda, speaking at the Mansion House, announced that meat would also he rationed on February 25th. Compulsory rationing was inevitable and urgent. The whole country would he under Government rationing .schemes which would ie developed into a national system. It was proposed to fix a fair share of meat, margerine, and tea for each district, and to see that they were supplied according to necessities.- It was proposed to start with a level ration for children under . six. There was no ground for suspicion that well-to-do people were getting more than the workers.

THE FOOD QUESTION. WASHINGTON, Jan. 20.

Lord Rhondda, on behalf of the An-glo-French-Italian Governments cabled on Mr. Hoover, and said: “Unless yon are abe to send seventy-live million bushels of wheat above what, .vou exported to February first, irrespective of Canadian exports, I cannot take the responsibility of assuring our people that there will be sufficient food (o win the war. ft now lies with America to decide whether the Allies shall have I enough food to hold out until the Americans take the field. Mr. Hoover replied: “We will export every grain that America can save from normal consumption. We won’t fail to meet the emergency.” Mr. Hoover stated that America had already exported sixty million bushels : but it was absolutely necessary for the country to reduce its present eonsumpion by 30 per cent.

MEAT SHORTAGE. Received, this day at 8 45 a.m. LONDON. Jan. 27. The meat shortage is the most acute recorded.. Queues assembled at Smithfield at five o’clock, and the stalls were cleared before noon. Late comers secured only liver, sheep’s kidneys and tinned meats. There are many queues in the suburbs and provinces. Six thousand workers at Peterborough downed tools as a protest against the food shortage. They ~ marched in procession to the grounds, where speakers urged that the strike continue unt-il the food supplies were adequate. Tons of diseased meat are reaching Smithfield from Ireland, being condemned as unfit for consumption. FOOD CONTROL. (Received This at 1T.20. a.m.) LONDON, Jan 27. Mounted police specials were called out at Tottenham and Edmonton, to control a mile long queue. At Bootle, a crowd stoned the food official making an effort to commandeer margerine.