BLACK MARKETS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 November 1941, Page 2

BLACK MARKETS

THRIVE IN ENGLAND. FAKED EEAUTY PREPARATIONS. Black markets are thriving in England .today. There are black markets for food, black markets for face creams and for silk stockings. Investigations by Scotland Yard have.revealed deals in food involving tens of thousands of pounds. It has been found that stocks of food running into many hundreds of tons have been acquired and sold again at prices greatly in advance of those laid down by the authorities. The black market in face creams and hair dressings has indulged in making them in back parlours and selling them in jars and bottles bearing the names of well-known firms. One sales manager, referring to this market, said: “Some of these faked beauty preparations are made at the kitchen sink and are peddled from door to door in suitcases.” There is also a good deal of peddling in silk stockings in public houses, and from door to door. They are sold at practically double the normal price, but coupons are not required in return. The increasing difficulty in getting stockings has brought the war home to many women this summer, and stockingless legs have been in the fashion, particularly in the provinces.