WAR BREAD IN BRITAIN.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 249, 9 February 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAR BREAD IN BRITAIN.

IT WAS ONCE MUCH DEARER THAN IT IS NOW.

For Britons to bo obliged +Vif\ir hrG&d is no new thing. 1801 the price stood at is iuiu. Srt ."qwrtag iwighed, or $ « ,e STO &T& tho IS wasW .Which fo ed llh. as "ftrSirs deMoreover, our thnfty lore^e maided a fuihwoig that they ■TT Cw.A and egertiv. d«s " He pilta" with of his chose to take a han dm the, game pelted him with fruit, and other similar ##age. I'ERRIBLE DISTRESS. It is worthy ofnotetoo.tiiat what wis known in those days as - white bread, but which was reaUy mow nearlv akin to the so-called bread was regarded as a sort of , l ,'^ Ui V and was consumed only by Wy o--people. The daily bread ot .the masses was made of equal proportions of wheat, in a.n^ritions, but not very palatable b > ™ crrees and under the psssuve ofpubUc opinion, the two latter Wgrediems wcre almost or quite eliminated, lhe result was that the loaf steadily f d ™ nnce mounting from about 4d. or oct. in thi middle of the eightontl^centuo up to Is o£d- P e T Pl2 Til s' 3id in 1810; and Is 9£d. in ISU. n«s, of course, was during the 'The result was terrible distress amongst the poorer classes o the conimunitv, and in order .to try and cope with this a determined attempt as made To popularise a bread made of equal parts of wheat and maize, or, as it was then called. " Indian corn An experimental form for cultivating the maize was even started at K«nn,mgton, then open country; but, as might have bee foreseen, the crop faikd to ripen properly, and tho attempt had to be abandoned.

WHOLEMEAL BREAD ON THE ROYAxi TABLE.

Next was what was known as "The Brown Bread Act. winch, be«ido fixing the standard of flour from which bread was to be made, also nine ted that no loaf should be sold until twenty-four hours after it had been baked Moreover, Parliament passed at the same time regulations against what was called "forestalling and relating," designed to prevent the farmers and millers from hoarding their supplies of wheat and flour with a view to forcing up prices. -iff* In 1842. again, a determined citoit. was m.ide to get the people to eat brown, or wholemeal, bread in p.ace or the prettier-appearing but less nutritious white bread. Queen \ ictoria, then newly married, placed herself at the head of the movement, and none other than wholemeal bread was, by hei express orders, allowed to Ive placed upon the royal tables. ; And, as a matter of net, her Majesty never again reverted to white bread, although the bulk of her subjects discarded tlto brown loaves as soon as the novelty had worn off. Neither did a simiVir movement, inaugurated in 1880, when a "Bread Reform League" was •tarted at a big meeting Tield at the Mansion House, London, meet with any greater success.