THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service." FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1943. IS NOT RATIONED

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3280, 25 June 1943, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service." FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1943. IS NOT RATIONED

The last person who could reasonably complain of a shortage of fresh vegetables—and it is anticipated that there will be a shortage—is the man who has a bit of ground that could, be made to produce something.’ And there must be several thousands of such pieces in the backyards of homes in and about the city. In Great Britain they clear away the debris from bombed areas and turn them. into vegetable plots. Some British school children are enjoying their first experience of growing anything by cultivating a few yards of some site from which enemy action removed the buildings. Here, fortunately, there is nothing, of that kind, but there is a predicted shortage of vegetables, and there are spaces of varying sizes that will grow something. If there should be any doubt about what it would be advisable to plant, or sow, then the occupier can easily get expert advice. The greatest handicap—and this is not the only sphere in which it is felt—is the conclusion of the householder tjiat the little he or she coud grow couid not make any appreciable difference to the position. It is exactly the same erroneous conclusion reached by very, many people that the small amount of electric power that would be saved if they switched off a couple of lights would make no difference in a city where hundreds of thousands of lights are used. What has to be realised is that these small units added together create the demand, and it is the domestic demand of the individual home that creates the matket for vegetables. If any family can supply its own requirements for a week or two that is a contribution toward easing the strain.

And it has other advantages. It means.that something unproductive has been made productive, and that is important at ail times, but especially during the war. The much-used term “maximum production” does not apply only to the things required for the feeding and equipment of the fighting forces, or the maintenance of our export trade. It embraces that essential supply referred to as “consumable goods,” of which there is a shortage in more respects than vegetables. Every backyard, every area, made to produce something helps to increase that supply, and is a very real part of the national war effort. Here at least it lies within the power of large numbers of families and indivduals to ( do something, make some contribution. The extent of the effort may be governed entirely by the space that can be used, but big or little it should be made. These are days of rationed foodstuffs in certain respects, and no one can say that the limit has been reached, but the Americans, who have set out enthusiastically on a campaign for home gardens, have adopted the slogan: “The backyard is not rationed,” and that should be adopted here, for it is a fact worth remembering.