SIMPLE STORY
DURATION OF THE WAR STANDING alongside two women in "a local grocery store, some months ago, when some of our foodstuffs were in short supply, and rationing was cutting- us down in some of the commodities we thought we needed, I heard a voice say with much vehemence, "Ain’f the Government rotten!’ So I turned to view the critic of our food control system, and our Government in general, and saw a tiny Maori woman, and the person to whom she aired her grievance, obviously just a shop acquaintance. "No, no biscuits, either," said the grocer, rather tersely. And the little woman said again, "Ain’t the Government rotten! And this war’ll go on for five years yet!" "What's that?" said the grocer, interested now to find someone who seemed to know the duration of the war. "How do you know that?" "Well," said the woman, with confidence in the truth of her statement, "It says so on the Ration Book!" He didn’t remember seeing that, so with shaking finger she pointed to the ominous words on the front cover of her book, "10 years and upwards!"
J.
F.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 284, 1 December 1944, Page 17
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190SIMPLE STORY New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 284, 1 December 1944, Page 17
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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