THAT EMPIRE CHRISTMAS PUDDING
- [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—With regard to the recommendation that Christmas puddings should he made entirely of Empire produce, I suspect that the housewife is still a true Free Trader. That is not to say that she necessarily prefers foreign produce. (Once and for all may I scotch that ridiculous fallacy attributed to Free Traders ?) It merely means, to quote Mr. Churchill's famous definition, that she claims the right to buy "whatever she wants, wherever she chooses, at her own good pleasure, without restriction or discouragement from the State " ; and I should be very much surprised if any housewife to-day would risk the quality of her pudding if she were to find that the test currants came from Greece, or would omit the vital orange and lemon-juice if Empire oranges and lemons were not available.
I sympathize with housewives who, according to complaints in even the Tariff Press, are being asked to pay-twopence or threepence more for Empire than for foreign raisins and currants, and who are doubtless made by State-financed advertisement to feel unpatriotic if they refuse.- I fear that the " Buy British " tendency has been used in some cases by unscrupulous traders as an excuse to raise prices. What do the housewives say ?—I am, Sir,- &c., _
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