year beginning on the 1st day of April shall not exceed the amount delivered to that person during the year 1916 reduced by 50 per cent. The order does not apply to delivery of spirits in cases in which the commissioners are satisfied that the spirits are delivered to a manufacturing chemist, or to a manufacturer of perfumes for use in their manufactures, or are delivered for scientific purposes or for medical purposes. If it is shown to the commissioners that any condition attached by them in the issue of an authority under this order has not been complied with, the commissioners may, if they think fit, withdraw the authority, but the powers of the commissioners to withdraw the authority shall not prejudice the liability of the holder of the authority to any penalty to which he may be liable for not complying with the condition. Infringements of the order are summary offenses subject to penalties under the Defense of the Realm Regulations. ORDER AGAINST FOOD HOARDING.1 The long expected “Food hoarding order" was issued by the food controller on April 5, 1917. It is the aim of the order to prevent these who in ignorance or unscrupulousness would be disposed to make large purchases of food to hold against a possible lean time from taking this advantage of their fellow citizens. The mere threat of this order had important results, checking food hoarding at ence. On the other hand, it has caused considerable irritation in many quarters on account of the plan of domiciliary search by policemen. This latter possibility was thoroughly ventilated in Parliament, however, and the order makes it clear that only persons specially authorized in writing by the food controller will be given this power of search. The new order forbids anyone-except under the authority of the food controller-to acquire after April 9 any article of food to such an amount as to exceed the amount required for ordinary use and consumption in the households or establishments, and in any proceedings for breach of this clause the burden of showing what quantity of any article of food is required will rest upon the person charged. Conversely no person may sell any article to a purchaser where he has grounds for believing, in view of the quantity demanded or for any other reason, that the purchase would increase the customer's holding of the article of food in question above what he and his household are lawfully entitled to. Any person specially authorized in writing by the food controller may enter upon any premises in which he has reason to believe that any article of food is being kept in contravention of this order and 1 Great Britain: Statutory Rules and Orders, 1917, No. 317 (Cd, 8542), and Christian carry out such inspection and examination of the premises as he may think necessary. The present order does not apply to (a) any article of food required or held in ordinary course of business by any producer, dealer, or manufacturer, and (b) any home-produced or homemade article of food in the possession of the producer or maker or the materials reasonably necessary in the ordinary course for such production. The order covers every article used for human food and those articles which enter into the composition or preparation of human food. Any person guilty of acting in contravention of this order or evading or abetting such acts will be guilty of a summary offense against the Defense of the Realm Regulations and the directors or officers of any company which so acts will be held individually guilty of a summary offense unless they can prove that the contravention took place without their knowledge or consent. REGULATIONS FOR THE SALE OF TEA,1 Under date of April 5, 1917, the food controller has issued a socalled Tea (net weight) order, 1917," under which after July 1, 1917, tea sold at retail in quantities of 2 ounces or more must be sold by net weight and in ounces or pounds or multiples of ounces or pounds, and after the same date if any weight is stated on any package of tea the weight stated must be the true net weight. After May 1, 1917, it is made unlawful by the order to affix any statement as to weight to any package of tea except the true net weight. MAXIMUM PRICES FOR SEED POTATOES.2 By the "Seed potatoes (prices) order (No. 2), 1917," dated April 3, 1917, the existing provisions relating to seed potatoes were extended by the food controller until the end of April. The prices chargeable for seed potatoes are also raised by £2 ($9.73) per ton and seed potatoes are now defined as meaning any potatoes which will not pass through a riddle having a 1-inch mesh and will pass through a riddle having a 2-inch mesh. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNAL KITCHENS. Liverpool is now considering the question of following the example of several other cities in England and Ireland, such as Bradford and Dublin, in establishing communal kitchens to meet the difficulties arising from the present restrictions with regard to the purchase and 1 Great Britain: Statutory Rules and Orders, 1917, No. 318 (Cd. 8545). 2 Great Britain: Statutory Rules and Orders, 1917, No. 295 (Cd. 8539). preparation of food. These kitchens are in no way charitable institutions, but simply common cooking centers at which those who so desire may obtain their food ready cooked to take home with them, with a minimum of expenditure of money, fuel, labor, and trouble. Similar experiments have been tried in the past, notably in France, with great success. Liverpool has ready at hand a number of sources of supply for the equipment of several of these centers. It has been proposed that use might be made of the large steam cooking pans on board some of the big American liners which are not at present being used for carrying passengers, and which might be temporarily brought ashore. There are three poor-law institutions with a surplus of cooking accommodation at certain times of day. It has been estimated that between 12,000 and 15,000 meals might be supplied daily from them on the communal kitchen basis. Similar use might be made of the kitchens in the various hospitals in the city, without interfering with the patients' meals. The kitchens supplying meals for school children under the education committee and some in the artisan dwellings under the control of the housing committee might also, it has been proposed, be used in addition for the purposes of the communal kitchens, if the scheme is carefully organized. FOOD POLICY FRAMED BY NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF BRITISH WORKERS.1 Under date of May 15, 1917, a manifesto, embodying a comprehensive policy on the question of the food supply, has been drawn up by the War Emergency Workers' National Committee, and has been submitted to the various sections of the Labor, Cooperative, and Industrial Women's Movement. It is suggested that the Government should purchase all essential imported foodstuffs and commandeer or control all home-grown products (including potatoes) and place them on the market at prices which will secure to the consumer the full benefit of Government action. Proportional regulation, on a family basis, of foodstuffs in which there is a shortage and a 6d. quartern loaf during the war and for six months afterwards are also advocated, any loss to be met out of war funds. The manifesto is in the following terms: The Workers' National Committee has had under consideration the present and contemplated state of national food supply. Ever since the beginning of the war the national committee has continually put forward suggestions in the direction of adequate organization by the State in order to secure not only as ample a production of national foodstuffs as war circumstances allow, but also their equitable distribution among the various classes of the nation. For many months our representations were repudiated by responsible ministers as unnecessary and revolutionary, but, with the passage of time and the growing scarcity of supplies, measures have been and are being tardily adopted with a view to achieving the objects we have constantly had in mind. The development of the submarine campaign has now accentuated the whole problem and has given acute emphasis to our past proposals. It is evident from inspired statements in the public press that the situation is increasing in gravity, but the responsible departments of the Government do not yet seem to be inspired by the extreme urgency of the problem. It has been suggested that machinery to secure an equitable distribution of sugar has been prepared, but that the complications and labor involved in its administration prevent its immediate adoption. Valuable time is being allowed to lapse, while the problem is becoming more serious than ever. The real and immediate danger that lies ahead is not so much that supplies will be reduced to anything approximating to a famine basis, but that foodstuffs will be allowed to be driven up to such excessive prices that the well-to-do section of the community will be able to satisfy their needs at the expense of the less prosperous. Bread, for instance, has been allowed to rise to 1 shilling per 4-pound loaf, and at the same time the Ministry of Food appeals to the nation to reduce its consumption of bread and buy substitutes, such as oatmeal, oatcakes, etc. The inevitable result of this policy (just as it has been in the case of potatoes and pulse substitutes) has been immediately to drive up the price of the suggested alternatives, much to the profit of the wholesale and retail traders concerned. This policy must be effectively checked in the interests of the general working-class population, and in particular of the women folk and children who are living solely on the fixed allowances given to dependents of men with the colors. The national committee feels strongly that it is now imperative that the local authorities throughout the country should take a hand in the organizing and distribution of the food supplies in their respective areas, and at the same time that working-class organizations should set up food vigilance committees to stimulate active interest in the matter on the part of the local authorities concerned and to make the views of working-class consumers more effectively heard. The committee therefore commend the accompanying draft policy to the consideration of all sections of the labor, cooperative, and industrial women's movement, and urge that the attention of mem bers of the House of Commons should be specially directed to its proposals. The "draft policy" is set out as follows: GOVERNMENT POLICY. (a) The purchase of all essential imported foodstuffs. (b) The commandeering or controlling of all home-grown food products, such as wheat, meat, oats, barley, potatoes, and milk. (c) The commandeering of ships and the control of transport facilities. (d) The placing on the retail markets of all supplies so obtained and controlled at prices which will secure the full benefit of Government action to the consumer, and the proportional regulation on a family basis of the sale of any foodstuffs in which there is a shortage of supplies. (c) The selling of bread and flour for the period of the war and six months afterwards at a price not exceeding 6 pence per quartern loaf, any loss so involved to be met as a portion of the general cost of the war. MUNICIPAL POLICY. Powers to be given to municipal, urban, and other local authorities to set up special food-control committees, to which shall be coopted representatives of labor, cooperative and industrial women's organizations, for the purpose of supervising the registration of consumers, the equitable local distribution of foodstuffs, and the institution of municipal food services. LABOR POLICY. That local labor, cooperative and industrial women's organizations throughout the country be urged to form special food vigilance committees for the purpose of focusing working-class demands in connection with food supply and stimulating governmental and municipal activity on the lines indicated above. LOCAL CONFERENCES AND DEPUTATIONS. That the workers' national committee, in conjunction with local labor, cooperative and industrial women's organizations in suitable areas, convene district conferences to advocate the above threefold policy on the lines adopted in connection with the pensions campaign, but on a larger and more comprehensive scale, the findings of such conferences to be made the subject of deputations to local M. P.'s. PARLIAMENT. That failing prompt and satisfactory measures being adopted by the Government to deal with the growing difficulties of the food supply and the continual exploitation of consumers by food profiteers, a national deputation, drawn from all parts of the country, should be organized to appeal directly to Parliament in person. SUNDAY CLOSING LAW OF GENEVA, SWITZERLAND.1 The following is a translation of the Sunday closing law which went into effect in the city of Geneva, Switzerland, on September 1, 1916: ARTICLE 1. Every industrial or commercial establishment, whether listed in the commercial register or not, shall grant, without reduction in the wages, to 1 L'Ami du Dimanche, 40th year, 2d series, No. 17. Published by the Swiss section of |