A KITCHEN CRISIS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9442, 12 May 1909, Page 6

A KITCHEN CRISIS.

It probably will have rejoiced the hearts of the militant Suffragettes at Home to learn that, as an indirect result of their strenuous campaign, they have been able to exert an unpleasant effect upon the process of feeding the lions at Westminster. The Kitchen Committee of the House of Commons recently awoke to the fact that it was running its department at a loss, in spite of the fact that it received an annual subsidy of £2OOO from tfas Imperial Exchequer. This is attributed to the devastating influence of the Suffragette mdvement upon British politics. A year ago the House of Com 3. aiona was one of the Binaries! and beat-appreciated restaurants in London. Not long afterwards two Suffragettes in 'the Ladies’ Gallery defiled the Chamber by shouting and throwing handbills. By the Speaker’s orders the public were rigidly excluded from the House; ladies ceased to be an element in Parliamentary life, and Parliamentary life from that moment practically ceased to be. While ladies were granted free access to the House the organisation of gay luncheon and supper parties by rioh M’s. P. was frequent and free, and naturally the consequent oonsum'ption of expensive wines and viands substantially augmented tbe profits scorning to what is facetiously termed “the Department of the Interior,’ ’ over which the Kitchen Committee presides. But tbe times have changed. Recherche tea parties are no longer given, and members who wish to entertain must take their guests elsewhere. The House of Commonsfinds itself in the unhappy position; of a restaurant from which the tideof fashion has receded. Its.establishraents "charges remain as high asever, while the receipts have fallen sadly away. In an interview with a Daily Mail representative, the Chairman of the Kitchen Coihmittee, Sir Alfred Jacoby, M.P., admitted that a substantial falling-off had occurred,, and stated if the loss continued they would be forced to realise upon someof their “liquid” assets. He mentioned the “ awful possibility with' bated breath —that of the “Motherof Parliaments” being forced to sell out her cellars by the action of the* Suffragettes. Mindful of the axiomthat the best way to treat men is to “feed the brufcos,” Mrs Pankhurslrand her colleagues will probably prosecute their campaign with 'renewed; vigour, realising the possibility of still further impoverishing tbe resources of tbe Kitchen Committee and extorting “votes for women” by the sheer w’eight of an effective appeal to the heart of dominant political man through his much morereadily responsive stomach.