WAR UNPOPULAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 March 1940, Page 3

WAR UNPOPULAR

REACTION IN AUSTRIA. REPORTS OF TRAVELLERS. Travellers returning to Holland from Austria report that the war is veryunpopular among the Viennese, says -The Timos." It seems that Austrian regiments suffered heavy losses in the Polish campaign, particularly around Lwow. which now belongs to Russia, as critics sardonically point out. Food is scarce, and parcels from friends in Hungary are eagerly anticipated. There" is great demand for permits to visit Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, which is only half an hour's train journey away from Vienna, where there is plenty of food to be had. Everybody' except children and invalids has to be content, as in Germany, with skimmed milk, which is known on account of its colour as the "blue wonder." Wartime margarine is known as "vaseline. People do not believe what they read in the German newspapers, and there is much demand for the Hungarian "Pester Lloyd." printed in German. The severe rationing of meat has made game very popular. Like poultry and fish, it can be bought without a ration card. So great is the demand that shops have been obliged to introduce their own system of rationing by supplying customers according to a list. Many days may pass before the customer is summoned to take delivery of fish or fowl. To reassure the public the Reich Food Estate has published records of (he amount of hares. wild duck, venison and other game shot in past years. In public pleasure gardens (lower beds arc being replanted with shrubs, and orders have been given to cut the grass only three or four times a year, in order to provide fodder. Vegetables for hospitals are to be grown instead of flowers in hot houses and borders. Iron gates and railings are being removed to provide raw materials. Gardens of private houses, even the lawns, are to be used for vegetable growing. Unused building sites and land around factories will be planted with potatoes, maize, and other crops. Allotment production has made great strides, and the last figures showing their produce claimed that about a million and a quarter owners had produced 600.000 fowls. 4.000.000 litres of goats’ milk. 3.000.000 kilos of ducks’ meat. 125.000.000 eggs, and 350.000,000 kilos of fruit.