Rationing of Food
Mr. W. S. Morrison announced in the House of Commons last Wednesday that no rationing of food will be applied immediately, but that butter and bacon will be rationed in the middle of next month, with provision for four ounces a week of each per person. It will be readily understood that there should be some shortage of these commodities at this stage of the war. Butter and bacon are perishable foods which cannot easily be stored for long periods, and the Danish supplies, though now in part resumed, were seriously inter- fered with in the first weeks of the war. In mid-winter, of course, the home supplies of butter are always reduced. What is surprising is not that it should be necessary to ration these two commodities, but that all others can be freely bought, including sugar and meat. The fact is that up to the present our shipping has suffered less than had been expected from enemy action, and now that the convoy system is well under way and the reorganisation of transport is nearer completion, supplies are coming in plentifully. As long as there is no real shortage rationing is an inconvenience which ought to be avoided.
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