Poles get chance to buy meat, butter by coupon

Meat and butter went on sale for coupon in Warsaw and other Polish cities in a pre-Christmas dress rehearsal for nationwide rationing due to begin Feb. 1. The governor of Gdansk, center of last summer's labor unrest, said the aim of the Christmas rationing was to give Poles a just share of scarce meat supplies. Until Dec. 24, butcher shops in Warsaw will be sellin only the Christmas ration of 1.1 pounds of boneless pork, 1.7 pounds of ham and other smoked mead, and half a pound of butter. The coupons can be obtained from places of work or municipal counsils. Poles generally appeared to approved of the rationing, which was demanded by striking workers in August and later by the Solidarity free-trade union federation.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, an authoritative commentary in the Communist Party newspaper Pravda suggested NATO is trying to deprive Poland of the right to defend itself by issuing warnings against possible intervention by Moscow. Signed A. Petrov, believed to be a pseudonym denoting high-level authorship, it accused "some leading members" of NATO of trying to step up interference in Poland's affairs.