LETTERS TO A SOLDIER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 August 1943, Page 2

LETTERS TO A SOLDIER

Dear Jack, —I went out to Bobs place yesterday afternoon. You would have laughed —I rode out on your old bicycle, as the gallon and a half of benzine that we get each month does not permit any joy-riding. You would have laughed at Bob, too, remembering how in pre-war days his idea of a perfect Saturday afternoon was to be tut at the Park. Well, now he “digs, for victory” instead, and has got quite a promising crop of vegetables coming on. In case you think he has suddenly got virtuous, the fact is that any man with a family has to provide himself with some cf these necessities these days, as the Government organisation has at times broken down, and it has been impossible to buy vegetables at a reasonable price. You know, cf course, that most of the distribution of foodstuffs is handled by the Internal Marketing Department, but this has become a rather bad joke, as everything it touches, it

'ak.es a mess of. Bob has even started a small hen run —would you believe it? —because for some time he had difficulty getting eggs for the children, although strangely enough, whenever he went to Christchurch, he was able to get a box-full with no trouble, and bring them home to the family. What an advertisement for State control! Plenty of eggs in one town, and none in another only a few hours away. However, that’s the way things go here nowadays. Lemons have been fantastically expensive. I put in a couple of trees myself and they are coming along quite well. I hope by the time they are bearing fruit there will be a sane Government in power, and the marketing of food-stuffs will be done by men who know the job. Still, the trees will always be ornamental. Mother sends her love. —Dad. —Advert.