THE NELSON BAKERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 288, 5 December 1867, Page 2

THE NELSON BAKERS.

To the Editor op the Nelson Evening Mail,

Sir — The proverb says ' When rogues fall out,' etc. Will the same apply to the bakers? They are beginning to quarrel, and have let out some of the secrets of their trade; and if the quarrel continue, what are we not likely to learn about the making of bread? Surely the only traly clean and wholesome bread must be that made by machinery. Providing the water is good, there is nothing to prevent machine-made bread from being thoroughly wholesome ; but we may doubt if co much may or can be said of that made in the usual manner. The bread made by hand, and eke by feet, appears on the face of it to be but a nasty composition, and open to all kinds of irregularities. How are we to know that the man who makes the bread is thoroughly clean and healthy? To see a baker with the influenza, or learn that his family have the measles or scarlet fever is, to say the least, very suggestive. That man who kneads dough with his feet, providing his feet are clean, can, and does perhaps, make as wholesome bread as he who only uses his hands. It certainly leaves the hands free to wipe the nose; but then again, if the feet are not clean?

How are we to know that all the bad tastes we get in baker's bread are, as the ever ready apology says, from ' the water' or 'grown wheat?' There is the musty- flavored and the dirty, for cottage loaves will occasionally reveal crooked pins, hair, cotton thread and worsted. The loaves baked in moulds have have all the foregoing flavors, improved by some oleaginous mixture used, one supposes, for greasing the shape or tin the bread is baked in.

Why the baking trade should enjoy so perfect immunity from any surveillance whatever it is difficult Wf- understand. Can we imagine a greater nuisance than a dirty baker? Then why should not the Inspector of Nuisances' duty extend to bakeries?

There is no trade where inspection as to cleanliness is so necessary. Rread is consumed by most families at every meal, and every family which consumes baker's bread is at that man's mercy. He may be a perfectly clean man, washing himself thoroughly before making the bread, and then again he may be — it is too nasty to^think of. Again, looking round the town at the situation of the different bakeries, the question which naturally occurs to one is, what water do they use and where does it come from? Time was frittered away at the last sitting of the Provincial Council in deciding matter and questions which (compared to the question which comes home to every household, that ot clean bread and clean bakers) were weak, timid, and puerile. I am, etc., A Consumer. Nelson, December 3, 18G7.

The Canterbury Press, in an article advocating an early meeting of the Provincial Council, says : — There can be no question that the affairs of the province are in a very alarming btate. The fact that the overdraft at the Bank, -which during the last session of the Council was, if we remember right, reduced to about £70,000, has risen to £130,000, and is still increasing, is of itself enough to excite the utmost apprehension. It shows that the province is living beyond its means, and is forced to draw upon the loan to eke out its deficient revenue for mere every day expenses. This state of aifairs cannot be allowed to last a moment longer than is unavoidable. At the late race for the Melbourne Cup there could not have been less than 14,000 or 15,0C0 people on the course, for the railway authorities took £1500 at the Spencer-street Station.

The Melbourne Herald says — As a proof that we may expect a large number of visitors in Melbourne during the Duke of Edinburgh's visit, we may mention that the last steamer from Hokitika brought over 60 passengers, who all took return tickets, and have merely come to see the sights and participate in the festivities.

At a Highland hotel, a few days ago, a unique bill was presented to a gentleman who had a few hours' sojourn at the establishment, in order to refresh both himself and his pony. It contained only one expressive item, without punctuation: — ' For eating yourself and horse four and thripanse.'

The soiled linen of the Grand Hotel, the Hotel dv Louvre, and Grand Cafe, and of a few of the other hotels and cafes in Paris, is washed at the rate of 40,000 pieces a day, at the Blanchisserie de Courcelles. The linen is boiled with soap and soda and then washed in hollow wheels, rinsed, partly dried by centrifugal machines, and for the rest in hot-air ovens, which carry off nearly 3lbs of moisture per lb of coal burnt, and is finally ironed between polished rollers, and then packed ready for return to Paris.

An essence that yields most — Acqui-escence.

Holloway's Ointment and Fills. — - The Knife Superseded. — All afflicted with, ulcers, diseases of the bones, and inflammations of the joints, should read this testimonial to the curative powers of these healing and purifying remedies. Mr John Allen, 17, Denmark-street, Leicester, suffered severely from a bad foot for three years, during which long period he was under surgical treatment without any perceptible benefit. He resolutely objected to amputation, which seemed the only course open, till he providentially tried Holloway's remedies. These gave him great relief, and at last completely cured him. Spots, blemishes, sores, and skin disorders, arising from impoverished blood, or a reckless course of life, may be removed by the judicious use of Holloway's Ointment and Pills. 3858