Emergency Food Supplies

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 142, 13 March 1942, Page 5

Emergency Food Supplies

F any town in New, Zealand were either bombed or bombarded, it would be a matter of luck whether the food supplies were saved or destroyed. In any case there would inevitably be some of the provision shops partially or wholly destroyed, and many homeless families who would, be without any kind of food. It was found, by actual experience in London, that although tinned foods were considered to he absolutely safe, yet they were often very unreliable, for in the event of blast, any glass in the neighbourhood will smash, often into minute fragments. These tiny splinters are forced through the thin covering of metal and being quite imperceptible, render the food unfit for consumption. Worst of all; even though only a few tins may be affected, all must be condemned until passed by expert investigation. One of our jobs was to visit all the local grocers and general provision men with a request

that they should bury or store below ground in safe quarters a percentage of their stocks, so that even if their main supplies were ruined, there would still be a little left for temporary needs, until further stores could be brought into the town, Every householder was urged by the Government to lay in a week’s supply of food for his or her family in tins and packets.-("Englishwomen Behind the Firing Line: Some Personal Experiences." Mrs. O. J. Gerard. 2YA,(February 20.)