IN ENGLAND TO-DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 April 1918, Page 7

IN ENGLAND TO-DAY.

FOOD PROBLEM US' LONDON. AIR RAIDS AND THE PEOPLE. Some interesting impressions of conditions in England are contained in a letter received from Hugh Eraser, of New Plymouth, from Edinburgh, February 20. lie writes:— It is nearly a year since I wrote and gave you some impressions of London and other places under the irtiluence of certain war time conditions, and now the war—a year older—still goes steadily on, and London and its millions are to be seen "carrying on" in much the same way. On the surface there is little to distinguish it from the London of a year ago, but beneath the surface there are many changes. I was in the Houso of Commons one night and I heard a khaki-clad member tell the House a simple truth which 1 believe everyone in this country now realises. "This war,'' lie said, "will not be won on the Western front, but at home. The men in France are doing all that is humanly possible to beat the enemy, but I think he will 'be beaten in a quicker and surer way toy the people at home." Everyone knew exactly what he meant;, in the ability of the people of Great Britain to hold out —"to hold the home front," as one newspaper aptly expressed it—lies the strongest guarantee of ultimate victory. And the whole problem can be found in the one word 'food." To-day England is on rations, but when! I was in London a fortnight ago there were numerous food restrictions, but little actual rationing, and the position thus created was one of total unfairness to the poorer classes- One morning I saw in a certain suburb enormous queues of people awaiting their turn outside meat and general provision shops, and in every case I was assured that the shopkeeper would be out of supplies before he reached the end of his queue. Now here is the contrast.. That same day a friend took me to lunch at a fashionable West End restaurant, and there was to be found as well dressed a lot of people as could have been seen in a West End restaurant in peace days; and they lunched themselves particularly well. Of course everything was greally increased in price, but there was nothing lacking to please the most fastidious lonelier-, in short there seemed to, be no war on as far as this place and its comfortable patrons were concerned. If you had the money you could yet tho goods. And this was only one of many restaurants in this part of London which are gay with well-dressed lunchers and diners every day in the week. Rationing, it is claimed, is going to modify if not actually banl'sh this striking difference between the poorer and the wealthier classes. That afternoon we went to a theatre and the show —a spectacular revue—was every bit as good as the best similar kind of entertainment that I saw in London before the war. Then I saw those gorgeous windows in the big shops in Regent Street, Oxford Square, etc., and they seemed to me to have lost but little of their splendour. And so it is that all that goes to make up tho fascination of tho West Endits gay retaurants, its beautiful theatres, its brilliant shops, and crowded streets —has, in the main, survived to witness the fourth year of the war. It it a splendid sign, is it not, for we all know that nearly every one. of those people who go to make up the life of the city has felt the war in its most cru»l aspect? Those people less fortunately situated in life have a harder task. They arc restricted, but they are far from being starved, as some folk would lead you to believe. INFLUENCE OF AIR RAIDS.

As you know London has been made to feel the war by a fairly consistent campaign of terrorism by the Hun airmen, who, of late, have bombed the cir pretty consistently, and (it would )• idle to suggest otherwise) have done much damage. The loss of life and material, while very resretta/ble, cannot he held to fulfil the Hun's true obj.

which undoubtedly is to "put tho wind np" (as we say in France) the people. In other words, to cause panic. I have not experienced an air raid over London, but I have spoken to many who have ieen in them.

Here is my first interview. I was on a 'bus going through the city towards the East En 3, and alongside we sat a man obviously of the working class type. We talked about the war. He complained about the scarcity of food, but in the end agreed that it would not be so bad when the people were fairly rationed. Then came a very sore trouble with, this man and his class. One of his greatest problems—the price of beer! "And," he added, "it's not really beer when you can get i«" The hotels in his district closed two or three days in The week because they had no supplies. This, I found out later, was perfectly true, not only of his district, but of all parts of England, while here in Edinburgh the scarcity of liquor appears to bo even more acute. Matches foi his pipe be couldn't buy, and soon he expected to have his tobacco cut down. Again he was right. 1 went into six tobacconists' shops iu London before I could get a box of matches. But all these things, I tried to convince him i n argument, were j little matters. "What about the air ! raids?" I asked him. He had much to say, and assured me that if things continued like this there would ibe riots in London. Here I bad to leave this interesting chap to meet a friend on a Lon-' don newspaper who had kindly offered to pilot me round some of the poorer quarters of London. I told him about ray friend of the 'bus, and his prediction of riots in protest to the air raids. "You'll meet plenty to tell you that," he repled, laughing, "but it's all rot." Tiiis man had been in this very locality at the time of several air raids, lie is a shrewd observer of things, and it was his job there, not so much to Teeord the damage caused, but to note the effect on the people, and he was emphatic in declaring that the people bore the trials of a raid with remarkable calm—-that is. the people as a whole. He told me of raids over London before the existing splendid system of defence was instituted, and ho said it was wonderful to sea the new confidence the people had gathered since so many raids had become ineffective owin£ to our defence. And he told me this: During the last six mouths no less than fifty-two attempted air raids on London had been frustrated before the Huns reached the outskirts of the city. The people know these things, and tbey are bearing what is undoubtedly a terrible trial in the best possible spirit. Prom another friend, who is dama. bia bit- ja jthauaßaflitsi- at

a special constable in London, and who lias therefore bad splendid, opportunities, of seeing how the people behave wliile FriU is over, confirmed all the journalist had told me. There was. he told me, a great, deal of trouble with excitable people, especially foreigners, but they were the exception rather than the rule. Thinking over what 1 have sacu and hoard there are two or three conclusions which the visitor to Jxindou who takes the trouble to observe must come to and they are these. Firstly, the people, tired as they undoubtedly are of the war, realise that it can be won if they hoi, out, and in spite of the dearuess an,, scarcity of food they will bear with these difficulties for a very long time yet before they will raise the "peace-at-auy-priee'' call. Lloyd George appears to exevt a wonderful influence over the people, and in spite of a few brief displays of "fireworks" the present session has shown time and again that his policy has the genuine support of the major ity of Parliament, and' the people who are represented there. Secondly, great as have been the efforts the Hun has concentrated in his "strafing" of London he has done no more than his almost nightly raids behind the line in France have done. He has killed and damaged, just as he kills and destroys behind the line in France, but to suggest that he has spread panic amongst Londoners is equivalent to saying he has destroyed the morale of the army in France with his nightly bombing visits. And thirdly there is no dearth of men in this country to reinforce the army. A fortnight ago I listened to several Fleet street journalists discuss this topic, and the estimate of the men still available they came to struck me as grossly optimistic, but to-day's papers announcing the Government's decision to utilise every fit man in munitions and other industries for tho firing-line more than justifies the generous estimate I heard in London.