MOTHER COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1916, Page 5

MOTHER COUNTRY.

THE FOOD RESTRICTIONS. AN APPEAL FOR THE BLIND. ' I i London, Bee. 18. The first food restrictions are .iperating 10-day, when the restricted meals at !)■>(eis anil restaurants commence The officials of the Food Control Department are inquiring into the sugar stacks. Tt is expected the ration will be fixed at Jib per head weekly. Britain, however, is paying considerably less than the enemy capitals. ?.hc average increase in the price af staple foods in the United Kingdom since till- war is S4 per cent., compared with ICD per cent. In Berlin and 176 per cent, ii' Vicuna.

The largest increases in Britain ?.re in ijips, sugar, fish, potatoes and frozen Mutton, which are two co three times dearer than before the war. Margarine, milk and tea show the smallest, increases.

Ii chiding rent, clothing, fuel and light, a family whose pre-war income was a week requires 04s to have the same comfort.

The Foreign Office has granted Conn* Tarnowski, the Austro-Hungarian Amto Washington, a safe conduct to America

Sir Arthur Pearson appeals to the p'rss of the world as follows: "I request vonr readers to send New, Yii t gifts to help those blinded in the war. Their numbers are increasing rapidly. Already 1(50 have been taught to re,-id Braille, use the typewriter, and have been settled in profitable occupations. Hundreds are learning or pre]".irin° to learn, and a large permanent fiirv.l is needed to assure adequate supervision and assistance. [ trust those possessing the inestimable gift of sight will send a New Year's thank-offering to bmefit those who have given their eves for the Empire.''

GRAPPLING WITH FOOD PROBLEM. MINISTERS' RE-ELECTION. Received Dec. 10, 5.5 p.m. London, Dee. IP. Tiie recreation grounds and parks in ninny provincial towns, also the railway embankments, are increasingly being turned into cultivation as food areas. The National War Savings Committee is urging greater economy at weddings and Christmas treats, and largely reducing the receptions to soldiers. The iSouse, of Lords lias passed the Ministers Re-election Bill. In Die House of Commons, Mr. Bnr.ar Law announced that the Govc-rnment was not proceeding with the National Gallery Bill.

TOWERS OF FOOD CONTROLLER. Received Dec. 10, 5.5 p.m. London, Dec. IS. In the House of Commons, on the second reading of the New Ministers Kill. Sir George Cave (Home Secretary I said it was proposed lo give the food controller powei to increase supply, prevent waste, regulate sale and distribution, and lix prices. EMPIRE PRESERVATION. • < THE FIRST CONSIDERATION. London, Dec. IS. Mr. Bonai Law. replying to a Coloni.il Institute deputation, said the war had strengthened his protectionist and Imperial preference views, but the first consideration was not the development, but the preservation of the Empire. 'Never forget," he said, "we an: a very long way from the end of ilie struggle, and everything must he considered by its effect on the war." He hoped that strong feelings existed to prevent Germany ever being allowed to use our resources against ourselves, and added that the Dominions' help had changed the whole aspect of the preference question. CONDITIONS IN EGYPT. A lAVORABLE REPORT. Times Service. Eeceived Dec. 10, 11 p.m. London, Dec. IS. A correspondent in Cairo reports improved conditions in Egypt compared with those of 1015. The Senussi movement lias been broken, and the Turks defensive positions are far behind those previously held The commercial position is excellent, and trade is flourishing. The people are prosperous and contented. The German trade influence has practically been eliminated.

SENSATION AT GLASGOW. EFFECT OF 'PROHIBITION ANNOUXCEMENT Received Dec. 1!>, 11.+ C p.m. London, Dec. 19. There were remarkable scenes at Glasgow following upon the shipbuilders' pronouncement that prohibition must come if the tonnage on hand was to be completed. People waited in queues, -with hampers, outside the wholesale and retail shops, in order to secure supplies of whisky, whereof the stock in many places wa< exhausted.

OFFICER'S ORAIi WILL UPHELD. Received Dec. 20, 1-2.50 a.m. London, Dec. 19. Justice Shearman, in the Probate Court, pronounced in favor of a will made by word of mouth by Lieutenant Wardrop, who was killed in France in August. He. told a brother-officer that if he were killed lie wished all his property to go to his wife, whom lie had married in May.