ROAST VENISON AND PLUM TART
SIR,—It is delightful to learn from " Janus " that some people get a really delectable lunch—roast venison and plum tart, forsooth!—for is. 6d. No wonder there is never an empty seat for lunch in the House of Commons dining-room. No one would grudge our members the food or the seat for which they do not have to queue. But I wonder if they could help ordinary mortals to get somewhat better conditions than we now endure? It is necessary now to pay 3s., 4s. or much more for a very ordinary meal, having first had to stand in a queue, or one could, of course, go to the more expensive restaurants and hotels and pay 5s., 6s., 7s. 6d. or much more, plus table-cover 5s., thus paying zos., Its., us. 6d. or much more for a lunch certainly not worth the money. Omelette, rolls and butter, ice-cream and a glass of cider, for which 6s. 9d. was the actual charge, gives a good average meal. One doesn't need better, but one should pay less for it This does not affect the rich or the poor, for obvious reasons ; but it does seriously affect the vast number of people with small incomes, for whom, alas! so many of the graces of life have already disappeared. I notice, too, that the House of Commons Kitchen Committee "has expressed the conviction that, with the numbers now being served, there will be a balance on the right side." Surely, then, with "the numbers now being served," our hotel and restaurant managers, whose profession it is, could serve a good meal at a more moderate charge and still have "a balance on the right side "?
When visitors from other countries begin to come here they will not be encouraged to stay long or to come again if these conditions continue, and if bed and breakfast at a quite ordinary and homely hotel costs ros. 6d., 12S. 6d., 155. or more, and when so many amenities which we took for granted before the war are lacking. In this connection there
is one other item which will bring deserved adverse criticism ; that is the monstrous neglect and slum condition of our train and station
lavatories and waiting-rooms.—Yours faithfully, STELLA HORWELL. Riverside Cottage, Thames "Street, Wallingford, Berks.
Previous page
