Life in London.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 12 January 1918, Page 1

Life in London.

A WAR-TIME PICTURE. RESTRICTIONS IN FOOD. (From the Melbourne "Age" Correspondent.) LONDON, Nov. 9. Any Australian visiting London today who has not seen the place for a year or two would be amazed at the surprising change in the appearance of the public streets and public places. On every hoarding, and upon almost every wall, we are warned by big placards to "eat less bread." We also have semiofficial warnings to "Eat no bread" at all. Patriotic newspaper writers advise housekeepers what substitutes to introduce into the loaf, with a minimum amount of flour. Never have the praises of oatmeal and rice been so loudly proclaimed as they are to-day. There are also invitations on every public place of advertising to "Buy war bonds," "Use less petrol," "This building may be used for air raid cover," "Eat less food," "Save the coals," "Remember the Red Cross,'' besides pictorial or allegorical picture scenes connected with the war. "You are the man we want," says the life-size picture of a man in khaki, with finger out-pointed at the spectator. Advice per bill-sticker is thrown at us every few yards we walk along the streets. When night falls there is the scamper of pedestrians to bus and tram and train—thousands of women and girls from the shops, offices, and warehouses. Some of the roads which le&cl- to the Thames bridges are densely crowded, from 5 to after 6 o'clock, with people hurrying homewards. Mostly, it is intensely dark at that time, for many street lamps are extinguished, and

others are shaded into obscurity. Should there be moonlight many a pedestrian looks anxiously skyward for a visit from the enemy aeroplane. If the visitor travels to the suburbs —say Hampstead, or Sydenham, or any heights sur. rounding London —he will witness an amazing spectacle. The drill hour of the searchlights which encircle London is finer than a fireworks display. Quite 200 electric reflectors play skywards, moving hither and thither to the height of a thousand feet. Some of the searchlights are dual,' others are concentrated with the light passing in a thin stream through a narrow lens. In the lastnamed case the beams reach up to 1500 feet, The drills sometimes consists of -throwing the beams of light on a small fixed or moving balloon; and wherever there is a, searchlight the guns are not far off/

There are evidences of the war in an. other form, if our visitor looks into One of the many Lyons, A.8.C., or other teashops. In these places it will not be merely a matter of spectacle that will interest him. His appetite and his pocket will be affected. For a luncheon he is limited to Is 3d, and to 6d for tea and food. The once popular bun has decreased in size, but increased in price by 50 per cent. Bread is a grey compound of flour and maize, or flour ana rice, or potatoes. And to-day's papers tell us the authorities contemplate the introduction of potato bread on an enforced scale. If the visitor wants a drink of beer he may, at some places, get the old brands, but the price is 10a a pint, and the article is not quite so strong as the pre-war liquor. "Standard '' beer can be purchased at 5d a pint, and in some houses there is a "standard" beer at 4d. But these '' standard'' ales have no body in them, and are not so palatable as the mild beers of the Continent. The English brewer has yet to learn how to make the light ales of France and Germany.

The Government control of tea and sugar will also be realised by our -Visitor should he visit a tea shop. The charge for a cup of tea is 25, or may be 50, per cent, more than in, peace £imes. As to sugar, it is not served in some places unless it is asked for. In no case is the sugar basin left on 'the table for the customer to help himself. He may sometimes be given two little pieces, or a single pilule, of saccharine, so tiny that it can only be found by careful search at the bottom of the glass dish. The middle and lower classes feel these restrictions much more severely than well-to-do people, who can use high-class restaurants and hotels, where supplies of food are permitted on the system of average rates of consumption. In these last-named cases there is plenty 'of food, but 'an enormous cost is involved through the employment of a clerical staff to fill l up Government forms and returns. Sugar, tea, and butter are just now so scarce that a housewife may go to half a dozen shops and not get a single one of those articles. It is quite a common sight to see queues of women and girls waiting at shop doors for the chance of getting a few ounces of tea.

We are to be further controlled in other matters. Boots and shoes, for both men and women, are nearly double their old priee, and men's woollen cloth, ing is 50 per cent, dearer than it was. The Government now hold control of all the wool and all the leather in the country; they are, therefore, in a position to control the output. In the matter of leather they have done so by directing the manufacturers to make boots and shoes for men, women and girls at fixed prices. In & month's time a million pairs will be on the market for sale to civilains. Men's boots will be about a guinea a pair, women's and gills' from 12s ; 6d to a guinea. There will be buttdned boots and laced boots, but no cloth tops, or fancy boots with high heels. If the custmer wants such articles they must be ordered of a bootmaker who can secure the necessary leather, and the price will be nearly, or quite, double that of the standard article; The working man's Sunday boots will cost about 15s a pair.