The weekly Alaska citizen., 1920-01-26

year of peace finds the United King. dom still working under many of the wartime restrictions affecting or dinary living conditions. altho largt numbers of the orde,s have been res cinded and others have been modi- fled
 So far as food is concerned, only sugar and butter are now rationed The regulations regarding the amount of meat which might be purchased were removed only few days ago. about on" year after the close of the war. The consumption of liquor. however, is being held down rigidly under the old rules Necessities still home. include coal, gas and electricity The shortage of fuel has been caus- ing considerable hardship both to the individual and wo industry.
 The minister oi food has found ii advisable to continue the maximum prices. both wholesale and retail which it fixed for a considerable mum bor of necessities
 Apart from the matter of food and fuel the board of trade is maintain ing control of the eXpoitation and i'm pOrtation of a long list of articles The ban has been removed from some goods but this has been mainly in the case of things importation of which had been forbidden and the country found itself short of
 Removal of restrictions on most of the food necessities has not solved the living problem of the masses, how eyer. There is still a great shortage of many things and moreover, prices which went down last summer, have now mounted to about where they were at the signing of the armistice
 The increase is attributed partly to the world scarcity of necessities
 'ti 'is 'p 'il' iut9iil' ii' VI 'iNilihll' U 'l'' the recently belligerent countries, and partly to inflated currency and ad verse foreign exchanges The last named have had a pronounced in fluence on prices and 1t is the belief of economic experts that food cannot become cheaper until these are ad- justed, even tho there is an increase in production.
 The butter ration is placed at one and one-half ounces for each person per week. This refers to the import ed product only, there being no res friction on the use of home-mado hut ter As a matter of fact. virtually no butter is being made in the United Kingdom these days, so that the con sumer has to depend upon margarine and foreign butter
 The reason there is SO little home produced butter on the market is that the retail price. approximately 60 cents a pound, bears no relation to the actual cost of butter to the farmer. This month farmers can sell milk al 64 cents a gallon and it takes 2l2 gallons of milk to produce a pound of butter. If English butter were selling at it's true economic value it would be about SPA per pound.
 Until recently the sugar ration wa twelve ounces for each person pc week, but, owing to the shortage this allowance has been decreased to eigh ounces, and is expected to remain a that mark for many months. Tn" amount allowed to the confectionery and sweets trades has been reduce by 25 per cent and a further reduc tion Is expected.
 Butchers meat was rationed unti a few days ago, each person boi" allowed forty cents worth per woc' In consequence of the recoint gently of large supply of rutt and lamb from Australia and Zealand it was found possible to move all rationing restrictions a'' the food ministry has exp~oese' '' hope that peonlo will rcliovo tNo situation by eating r1o~e r,oat w'i. is welcome advice fo~ Fn~'anA
 Despite the small ration. only per cent of the meat allowance being demanded by ticket hol' each week. This was due eithe" a change of habits since tho hor' hing of the wa" or tho hi9h e Whenever a butcher had ba'ar' of meat left over at tho weet-o' he was permitted to soll it to a' one of his customers ir~osroct' of whether they had alreadv had t'',' ration or not. In this way sore noC"' were able to exceed the amount VI gided for by their perrite.
 The sale of beer and snirits ie et'' in quantity and the strono' If both beer and whis'1ey is nv" below the pre-war average. As 'esult, it is said there has been o- increase in sobriety. Whiskey is a present about thirty per cent undo proof Alcoholic drinks can only h' purchased between noon and 2:3O " n., and between 6 and 10 o'clock al