GERMANY'S FOOD SHORTAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1919, Page 5

GERMANY'S FOOD SHORTAGE.

HUN PROFITEERS (Special from the New Zealand Official War Correspondent), Cologne, February 25. In addition to the ordinary military duties concerned with demobilisation and the formation of strong points on the boundary of the neutral zone, our dwindling division is mainly occupied with education and cert ran adminisimtiTe duties in the occupied area. The Commandant ia the Divisional General, and under him there are three officers, acting as sub-area commanders. At present one of the, main considerations is the supply of "food to the civil population. Our zone is mainly an industrial one, set in a district of moderate agricultural and pastoral capacity. Factories have had to dispense with thousands of workmen, owing to the scarcity of raw material and the lack of mtrkets. Undoubtedly the food shortage ia becoming serious, and but for the presence of our force thero would be considerable unrest, and even Bolshevism- This is fully realised by the manufacturers As one of the principal industrialists put it, "I realise that if the New Zcahinders were not hew 1 wriuld not be here."

The burgomasters state that people in poor circumstances .ire suffering In health from want of nourishment, nnd these number over 10,000. There are in addition 54.000 who are willing to pay for a grant of army rations, which is equal to one soldier's ration to four people. There are in addition 400 Allies and neutrals, mostly Italians, who need assistance. In one of the subareas there are 3000 children siffferins from lack of proper nourishment. The position is complicated by the hoarding and sale of food to people who can afford to pay for it. Undoubtedly the German organisation of rationing has not been effective, and a large percentage of the civilian population have not played the game as tlie British have played it in their own country. Nearly 00 per cent of the people are concerned in the Schleichsandel system, and the German Government is reluctant or afraid to interfere. The only remedy appears to be requisitioning and entire control by the occupying armies. In one sub-area, with a population of twelve thousand, the deaths have increased from HO in I!H4 to 300 in 1918. Tho weekly ration is at present as follows:—Potatoes, 51b; flesh, 5$ oz.; fat, loz.; bread, 41b. Milk is availaMo only in small quantities for children and the siek. One has only to look at the children to conclude that Germany will feel tho effects of this malnutrition for at least another tweaty years.

In some parts milch cow* have been killed to supply meat. The situation as regards meat has, however, been somewhat relieved by tho sale of our useless horses. Four hundred horses of tne New Zealand Division have already been sold for slaughtering, at prices ranging from .€ls to £2O each. The potato shortage .is serious, and the supplies will not last beyond the middle of next month. Already the civilians from one town in our area are making |J*Ws on the potato pits in another part