The midland journal., 1946-11-15
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BY GEORGE 5. BENSON
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London Today

England suffered much during the
war. Many blocks in the heart Of
the great city of London, completely
razed by the Nazi "Luftwaffe," re-
main unrepaired. ALI parts of the
city sustained scattered damage
from the raids. They took much
punishment bravely, and they are
industriously setting about to repair
their country.
Perhaps it is partly Britain's prox-
unity to continental troublemakers
and the consequent disaster, al
though some of these trouble spets
have been pawn as well as threat
during her history, that gives the
people such an awareness of foreign
relations. They have learned the
defenses that are usually provided
by good foreign office, and have
developed shrewd international
statesmen. There is little apparent
disunity in their foreign policy.
Nonetheless, war came to them,
and their sufferings were great. Re-
construction in Britain is moving
slowly. A long time will be required
for complete rebuilding, even of her
damaged streets and destroyed
buildings. Materials are short, and
rationing diverts most materials
into home building, which is pro-
ceeding slowly also.
Rationing Showdown
Most Britons feel that rationing
OF materials has slowed production.
The government is meticulous about
filling out FORMS" and the proper
approval must be had to obtain each
different type of building material.
Sometimes brickwork must stop
because the bureau controlling glass
has not approved and returned the
forms for buying windows.
The London press announced while
was there that building contrac-
tors were being granted extra gaso-
line rations because of the addition
al travel required to get their nu-
merous forms filled out and circu-
lated to wholesalers and retailers,
which they found necessary to do
in order to complete a building.
All rationing seems to move slow
ly. For instance, I had to obtain
food points to give the hotel for the
week I was in London. Upon the
advice of the hotel manager that I
should report at the rationing Of
flee when the doors opened at nine
o'clock, arrived at 8:45 and found
a long queue already waiting.
Eventually I found myself in a spe-
cial room for foreign visitors, with
only few of the waiting applicants.
and had to wait only about an hour.
The speed of the ration clerks re-
minded me of some of our own paid
clerks during the war: it was evil
dent they were not paid by the num-
ber of customers they served and
that they had no fear of competition.
Queues and Bread
England is experiencing a greater
shortage of food, clothing, and gaso-
line than during the war, and there
fore rationing has not been eliminat-
ed. On the contrary, some items
are now rationed which were not
under rationing during the war.
Queues of from so to 300 people
were constantly on the streets, at
most all hours, waiting to get "a
toned articles.
I was actually hungry every day
I spent in England. Bread counts
as one of the three courses avail
able for a London dinner, and if
bread is ordered this eliminates ei-
ther the soup or sweet. During my
last day in London a hotel waiter
was fined $40 for inadvertently put
ting roll on the table for each Of
two men who had not ordered bread.
They chanced to be inspectors.