Crack problem of egg imports

Observer urges households to buy chickens

With the war raging and casualties mounting, there was little time to think about the much-anticipated day when the guns would be silenced.

However, the Observer of 100 years ago this week urged readers to prepare for peace – by acquiring a couple of chickens.

In an editorial, the paper lamented the fact that each year no less than £8 million was being paid to foreign suppliers for eggs imported to Britain.

“There is sufficient refuse, even in a well-managed household, to keep two hens for the greater part of a year,” said the paper.

“If suburban dwellers with facilities for keeping a few fowl in health could be persuaded to try the experiment, this prodigious sum could be considerably lessened.

“Children should be encouraged to take an interest in the enterprise, and they could do the greater part of the work entailed.”

In order to promote the home production of eggs, the Great Eastern Railway had fitted out a train which was to tour parts of the country giving demonstrations on egg production and keeping chickens. Lectures were also planned.

Said the Observer: “Poultry farming rarely proved remunerative before the war but in the new conditions that are to arise when the peace comes, it may be possible to make this a profitable industry.”

The paper also commented on a report from a Government departmental committee which discussed home food production and the prices paid to farmers.

Food prices rose about 130 per cent during the First World War and 100 years ago there was anger over increases in the price of milk.

In London, people in one district staged a “no milk day” as a protest against the “exorbitant” charges made by retailers.

The Observer said: “Whether home producers of primary foodstuffs are getting prices which cannot be justified, poor people cannot afford six pence for a quart of milk and unless something is done to assist them, the rate of infant mortality is bound to go up.”

“Never”, added the editorial comment, “was it more necessary that the child-life of the nation should be conserved.

“It is not suggested that children should be saved to become potential soldiers but because they are the greatest asset a nation possesses.”

It was therefore necessary to act on the committee’s recommendations and start “municipal shops” for the supply of milk at reasonable prices and provide maternity centres and baby clinics where needed.