THE STAFF OF LIFE.

Kumara Times, Issue 196, 21 May 1877, Page 2

THE STAFF OF LIFE.

[to the editor.]

Sir, — I beg a small comer of your valuable paper that I may endeavour to prove to Doughey, with whom I had some argument, and to the public, that the rise in flour, even if it is at .£24 per ton, does

not warrant the rise in the, I can’t say 41b loaf, as I intend to prove the contrary, to Is 3d. First: who does not know that a 2001 b bag of Adelaide flour will turn out 72 loaves, full weight ? And although that flour is what the public are charged with, yet in this would or ought to be 41b loaf, there is not an average of of -it, but it is made with a much inferior and cheaper article. 2001 b bag of flour will give 72 loaves - - - £4 50 0

20001bs (a ton) will give 720 loaves .... £45 q 0 Short weight, per ton, 4320 ounces, or 67J loaves - £4 4Of Total, 787 loaves - - £49 4 0|

I weighed two loaves called Frenchmen, when a fine counter scale balanced at 7J lbs, leaving a deficiency of 12ozs in the two loaves. Now, let Doughey show me the expenses on baking a ton of flour, in salt, potatoes, and yeast. Wages I have nothing to do with. If a man pays another to do the work he ought to do himself, are we to pay him for doing nothing, and pay the man for doing the work? And what has the legitimate customer to do with his bad debts ? Supposing for argument’s sake that he loses five bags of flour this week, or he puts on a strong staff of bread hawkers, to rush his bread all over the country, to try and run his opponents out of the market, and he, as is often the case, loses by it, is he to raise the price of his light weight next week to such a pitch that the extra charge will cover the blunder he made this week ? I should think not, in justice. Now, it is seen that if a baker sends out 101 loaves per diem, he sends out a ton per week, which amounts, at the present price to £49 4 Of That a ton of flour costs, say £25 0 0 Balance, for expenses, of £24 4 0| I am, &c., Loapbe who don’t live on Returns.