H—l9A

Pending a decision on the future of post-war canteen services the Board endeavoured to preserve the status quo, for the reason that any successor controlling body would be likely to prefer to take over all facilities in their functioning state. With this thought in mind, policy in the past year has not been dictated by sheer financial considerations, and the deferment of appropriate action which otherwise would have been taken is slightly reflected in the table which appears in this report. In view of the extreme difference between war and peace conditions and in the knowledge that canteen facilities were desirable for the home Forces, in the past year ■opportunity was extended to the responsible service authorities to recommend the most suitable system to be employed in the future. Methods considered were : (1) A Board modelled on the lines of the Canteen Board to attend to all phases of canteen activities as had been done by the Canteen Board in the past. (2) The Services, either separately or collectively, to conduct their own canteen affairs. (3) A Board only to procure and store stocks for withdrawal by the Services, who would staff and conduct canteens on their own behalf. It is a commendation of the Board's past achievements that the representatives of the Navy, Army, and Air Force requested that the'control of canteens should be exercised by a Board to operate a policy substantially the same as that which had proved so satisfactory in the past. The decision having been made accordingly, steps were taken immediately to commence the necessary reorganization-. One bulk store was closed and ten canteens converted to a unit basis. (The term " unit canteen "is used to define a canteen operated by Service personnel when the business done by such a canteen is insufficient to warrant a full-time operator.) In such instances units are still enabled to procure their supplies through the canteen organization and thus enjoy the same range of supplies available to the patrons of fully operative canteens.

The essential results of tlie past year's trading appear in tlie following table :

2

Year Ended 31st March, (1) Sales. (2) Net Profit. (3) Gross Profit. (4) All Expenditure. (5) Net Profit. (6) Administration Expenses Included in Expenses. 1940 . . 1941 .. 1942 .. 1943 .. 1944 .. 1945 .. 1946 .. 1947 1948 Total net ] Distributed Undistribu.1 £ 85,626 338,623 574,739 1,742,871 2,284,962 1,810,897 1,151,944 393,732 198,751 £ 11,608 51,066 87,739 278,514 307,101 265,866 143,072 62,157 25,357 Per Cent. 26-88 29-08 26-67 21-99 18-69 20-57 18-60 23-25 19-49 Per Cent. 13-32 14-00 11-40 6-01 5-32 6-09 7-56 13-62 17-74 Per Cent. 13-56 15-08 15-27 15-98 13-37 14-68 12-42 15-79 12-75 Per Cent. 3-83 1-97 0-95 0-40 0-36 0-39 0-59 1-28 2-40 8,582,145 Drofit ;ed 1,232,480 304,123 928,357