ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 723, 19 March 1853, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the New-Zealander.

Sir, —As some people are greatly troubled about the price of bread, more particularly the Epsom road gent., might I ask him what school he was brought up in. I am sure it was neither Cambridge, Oxford, nor the Dublin University. He must he a pupil of Paddy Burns the Irish Schoolmaster. lie is so clever at the rule of addition he says the hour at 235. per lOOlhs., the actual cost to the baker, is 3£d. per loaf. He also brings it out in round numbers to produce sixtyeight loaves. I wonder can he work multiplication as clever as he can addition If he can let him multiply the sixty-eight by 3.Vd. and he will give 19-. lOd. worth of bread forliis 235, worth of flour. It is a pity he was not kept to school, he would make a clever genius, instead of advising a public oven to start, he ought to commence himself in the business, and at his calculation, it is a matter of fact, he would soon retire a clever independent man. He likewise asserts that there is a great profit to the baker at fid. the loaf. He very ably explains the scale of expenses, horse and cart, the keeping of the same in repair, the recent rise of wood to 9s. per ton he omits, but other expcnccs belonging to the trade he mentions ; but I would advise him not to work addition on them, perhaps if be would lie might break down as he did in the 3£d. He forgot to mention the nine or twelve months that the Gd. might be due, and, in some instances, not to get it at all. I would like to knowhow “ Mr. Matter of Fact” stands on his bakers hook’s.—Yours truly, John Kelly, Baker, High-street. To the Editor of the TXbw Zealander. Sir, —Will you have the kindness to insert in your next impression the following in answer to a letter in your last number, signed “ Matter of Fact,” where the writer has advanced several things as “matter of fact” which the veriest school-hoy would be ashamed of. “ Matter of Fact” says that lOOlhs. of flour, at 235., produces sixty-eight 21b. loaves; costs the baker 3|d. per loaf, —“matter of fact” the first. Now, according to Cocker and other eminent arithmecians, 08 times 19s. 10d., which would puzzle “ Matter of Fact” or any one else to make a living at, letting alone the wear and tear of ovens, cost of firewood, salt, yeast, and even “potatoes,” not to mention men and muscle, —“ matter of fact” the second. The good folk of Onehunga purchase bread in Auckland at Gd., and take it seven miles, when bread is to he had there at sd. Perhaps “ Matter of Fact” will be kind enough to enlighten us upon that matter. It is “ matter of fact” likewise that the baker lias to wait a considerable period (in some cases nine or twelve

months) before he secs any money, and in some not at all, for his bread. Perhaps it is not so with “ Matter of Fact.” At all events it “ Matter of Fact” will start an oven and go through all the trouble and expence attending the business, he will then find it a veritable “matter ot fact” that, taking everything into consideration, the baker is no more over paid than many trades in Auckland who realize a legitimate profit and no notice taken of it. “ Live and let live” is my motto. Why should the baker be always the butt of every ignorant pretender to level his goose shafts at 1 Why cannot “ Matter ot Fact” find some other game I they are not so scarce in Auckland. In conclusion I would advise “ Matter of Fact,” before he makes another attack, to consult Cocker, or Bonnycastle, or Hutton, and inform himself a little more as to the real nature of the business he undertakes to lash. I am, Sir, &c., Anti-Humbug, Auckland, March 10, 1853. To the Editor of the New-Zealander. Sir, —In the Southern Cross of this day the Editor of that Journal announces a valedictory entertainment given at the “White Hart” Hotel, to Captain Nicholls, under the superintendence of Mr. George Smith. I beg leave to state it was got up under the superintendence of the above named gentleman and myself.—Yours &c., D. Cnosni e, Proprietor of the “ White Hart” Hotel. Friday, March 18, 1853.