The Press: Extra Rations

For eight years, the British press has had barely enough paper to keep alive, and not nearly enough to tell all the news. For nine postwar months, the Labor government let newspapers print all the copies they could sell. But in the summer of 1947, to cut down imports, the government again froze circulations and cut most standard-size papers back to four measly pages a day.

Last week, the. press was promised another respite. Thanks to improved domestic production of newsprint, said Board of Trade President Harold Wilson, circulations would be unfrozen Jan. 1, and the papers could add two extra pages (four for the tabloids) three days a week. This time, the press hoped the extra rations would last longer.