RATIONS IN BRITAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 December 1943, Page 4

RATIONS IN BRITAIN

JUST SUFFICIENT TO KEEP PEOPLE ALIVE STRICT ECONOMY NEEDED IN CLOTHING ADDRESS BY SIR HARRY BATTERBEE “Rations in Brtain have been scientifically planned and are just sufficient to keep people alive and well,” said Sir Harry Batterbee, High Commissioner for the United Kingdom, when speaking at the Masterton Rotary Club today. “I wonder sometimes whether the smallness of the rations is fully realised," he said. “Only 2oz of butter a week, 4oz of margarine and 2oz of cooking fats, and 14d worth of meat. These may be just enough to keep body and soul together but it is the sameness and monotony and lack of variety of food which when continued year after year become very trying, as I think that anyhousehold in New Zealand would find if they would try these rations for a month. There are no dainty cakes or buns to be bought in Britain, or any other of those pleasant things which add variety to our diet. If there is any diminution in these meagre rations, then the health and vitality of the people must suffer, and unless by some way or another the people of New Zealand and Australia can find means to increase the supply of dairy produce and meat to Britain, this is bound to happen. Mr Nash has recently warned us of this danger and has urged the importance of the people of New Zealand striving by every means possible to avoid such a possibility. Great Britain has never appealed to New Zealand in vain for any help that the Dominion is able to give, and I am confident that she will not now.

PROUD OF PATCHES “Apart from food, there is strict rationing of clothes, and everyone who comes from Britain tells of the difficulty of buying anything in the shops. Britain is becoming very shabby but everyone is growing proud of their patches.” Sir Harry Batterbee displayed a series of posters which have been distributed throughout Britain showing the best methods of patching clothes and . underwear and household linen. “Travel for pleasure purposes is severely discouraged,” he said.- “Trains are so crowded and travelling is so uncomfortable that this alone acts as a deterrent. Owing to the extreme shortage of petrol and the necessity to conserve every possible gallon for war purposes, there is no variation in petrol rationing in Britain throughout the year: no petrol at all is available for pleasure purposes or for holidays or special periods. Increasing military activities will inevitably involve even closer conservation of all petrol supplies, the position regarding which is in consequence growing increasingly more difficult.” FOOD PRODUCTION Sir Harry Batterbee said a recent visitor to New Zealand from Britain, asked what his chief impressions of that country were, replied: The cheerfulness and confidence of the people; the work of the women and the golden fields of corn and the success of the food production campaign. Today Great Britain was producing nearly 70 per cent of her own food requirements, compared with 40 per cent at the beginning of the war. Britain still claimed that the output of munitions per man in the British factories was greater than that in any other country. On the economic front, Britain was determined to restore her export trade as soon as possible after the war and on the agricultural front the Government was pledged to maintain a healthy and well-balanced agriculture after the war. The Beveridge report was a symbol of Britain’s determination to establish a better and happier world for all.