America controls rice sales to Singapore 1946
Posted: 2015-02-07 06:10am
The above was a reproduced copy of the 1946 General Report by the Singapore British rulers that was submitted to the Colonial Office.
I found the passage that rice exports worldwide was controlled by the US government interesting
I know from The Taste of War by Lizzie Collingham that food sales by the Allied countries were already controlled by a board in the US in 1943, while Britain had a voice in the committee, the fact that the US was the major country producing food surpluses meant she had the controlling votes so as to speak. This political power bled over into 1946 when Europe and the rest of the world went into a famine, such as the drought that struck the Soviet Union and the collapse of the food infrastructure in Europe and the US literally controlled food relief for the entire world under the UNRAA.
I guess I was wondering if anyone knew any more details on how food aid/exports were coordinated.
Still, the 1946 and 1947 reports made for........very interesting reading on how the British government first re-exerted colonial authority over Singapore and the challenges they faced. I found it funny that one of the methods used to feed the population was that they copied the British Restaurants by naming them People Restaurants, or People Canteens.
I couldn't copy the actual prices though.....But still, just for fun, this was the rationed prices during the Japanese occupation.
And this is the People Restaurant prices.
