Restrictions on the Use of Gas and Electricity

Dunstable Street, Ampthill c.1907 [AU46/4w]

Tuesday 2nd April 1918: A new order restricting the consumption of gas and electricity has come into force today. The rules introduced include:

•  No light is to be allowed in shop fronts unless approved by the police as necessary for serving customers inside the shop, or to illuminate a small sign indicating the shop is open.
• Inns, hotels, restaurants, and other public eating houses are not to provide hot meals between 9.30pm and 5am, with the exception of railway canteens, meals served to travelling soldiers and sailors, and certain private canteens.
• No gas or electricity is to be allowed in places of entertainment between 10.30pm and 1pm the following day, except for cleaning and rehearsals to which the public are not admitted.
• The “five-sixths restriction” on gas and electricity applies to London and a number of other counties including Bedfordshire. This states that “No person shall consume or cause or permit to be consumed in any one quarter of a year on any premises of which he is the occupier more than five-sixths of the amount of gas or electricity which was consumed on the same premises during the corresponding quarter of the years 1916 or 1917, whichever was the greater”.

 Source: Luton News, 28th March 1918

Lecture on Food Waste

BP48/6/1, postcard showing a linet's nest amongst broccoli stalks at Barkers Lane allotments, 1927
(Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service)

Tuesday 20th March 1917: Mr F. B Willmer Phillips, Medical Officer of Health, delivered an interesting address on food waste at Bedford Town Hall. The meeting had been called by the Bedford and District Smallholders and Allotment Society. Mr Phillips opened his lecture by commenting on the thriftiness of the French when compared to the British. 38% of the land in Britain was uncultivated and the country was overly reliant on imports for commodities like sugar and wheat. Britain fared well in one area compared to other European countries – potatoes. Mr Phillips emphatically declared that in this time of crisis, no-one was justified in peeling potatoes, because in the process 15% of the food value was wasted. He concluded his lecture with a glowing tribute to the men of the mercantile marine.

Alderman Dunham motioned a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Phillips and thanked also the Allotment Committee for the work they were doing. The problem facing the Committee was not the lack of allotment holders, but the lack of allotments for all who applied for them. There was great enthusiasm for the work and threats had been made that if not enough were provided, the authorities would wake up to lots in Russell Park.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 23/3/1917