THE PEOPLES' FOOD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 5 June 1907, Page 2

THE PEOPLES' FOOD.

I.U'KiIASKi) i'l!-l(.'K Of KiiKAD. I "I'ivn.l at drink b\ mca-.-aire," say;, (lie old proverb. The remark may have been appropriate in Uie days wh.il I In- proverb was coined. In Iho.-c da\s, probably. none troubled aiiuut the price of bread. j\ow, iu this lime of lnllaicd values iu all directions the price lof bread is such that there seems to be : need eunsmiiing bread "by iiicnMtiv" as well. "Breads i-izi M laconically remarked the provider ,i» I lie years Unit I are passed. Aiid the family fell back ] on increased consumption ol potatoes. I'ul now lliere is not even that avenue of escape. Tiie polalo blight scourc" has spoiled the crops, and the almost indispensable lubers have been at high prices for a couple of years past, llonie-niade broad is an impossibility iu most homes, owing principally to the mark of civilisation having made the people more ami more dependent on the purveyors of food. Our mothers and grandmothers would have beaten the baker. The "sponge" would have been set before the hearth—"overnight," as the cooks says—and in the morning the dough kneaded and rounded into loaves. Xow, what percentage of tin- townsfolk could produce "Die stall' of life" if bakers ceased to lie'; So the people have become more . and more dependent on the bakers, just , as they have forgotten the use of their legs and taken to 'buses and trams; and ' just as they have forgotten the use of shoulders in the carrying of parcels. 'The ■ delivery cart is preferred.

And now the people are face to face with another rise in the price of bread. A contributor to yesterday's issue evidently referred to the Press telegram of Saturday which announced that Wangauui bakers had raised the price of the four-pound loaf to scvenpeiiee, whilst the Xow Plymouth bakers increased the price to cightpence. A "iS'ews" reporter waited 011 Mr J. West, secretary of the Tarauaki Master ]}akws' Association, on Tuesday morning, and had a chat with him about the mailer. The reporter mentioned that bread was staled to be dearer here than elsewhere, and asked lor some particulars to warrant I hat slate of allairs.

"In the lirst place," said Mr West, "bakers in New Plymouth are at a disadvantage in buying Hour. It costs us more than in such towns as Christehurch, Auckland and Dunedin, and the difference is about a halfpenny per loaf. Extra freights aud charged have to be paid, aud our costs us about 25 shillings a ton more than it does in the other places?" '•Can you tell me how many loaves are made from a ton of Hour?" j "Yes, you may reckon 04 four-pound loaves to every 2001b sack, which really holds only l!)71bs of Hour. And there are ten of those to the toil." Mr West further remarked that it was not the rise in Hour alone that had forced the bakers to increase the cost of bread. "Potatoes are dear, horse-feed is dear,

nrewouu is dear, iaoor is near; in tact, nearly everything is dear." Referring to the allowance made to buyers for cash over the counter,our informant stated that the public had had by far the best of that transaction. There had been nothing in it for the baker, but it was merely the result of "cutting" or too keen competition by people who were trying to work up a business connection. Now, however, these price-cutters had come into line, having found that the lower juices did not pay. Every loaf sold over the counter robbed the cart of the half-penny charged for delivery, but the carts had to be running just the same.

lu answer to a further query, Mr West said that the present prices were cightpewce per loaf cash over the counter, or from the eai't on weekly accounts, and ninepence per loaf booked, lie could not explain the reported difference between New Plymouth and Wangnuui prices, unless it was that the businesses were bigger in the latter town The bakery business in Mew Plymouth was a little overdone, there being nine master-bakers to supply the. wauls of 70lli) people. This meant that the men on wages were only kept busy for perhaps turee-quartcrs of their time, whilst drawing full wages, whilst I if the output were bigger the men would |be fully occupied and the, employers would have a chance of getting value for

wages paid. Concluding. Mr West remarked that the public, in reckoning the cost of production, only took into account the flour and labor. If they would remember the vastly increased cost of nearly everything used iu the bakery business they would find (hat the rise was fully warranted.

A PERTINENT QUERY. To the Editor. Sir,—Will the master bakers of New Plymouth explain why the extraordinary rise of .Co 8s 4d per ton is levied on the consumers, when the actual rise in Hour is only ,I*2 10s per ton? On the authority of a baker of 25 years' experience, a 20t)lb .sack of flow will produce 05 to 70 four-pound loaves. 1 take the smaller number to prove my statement. Thus,, at twopence rise per 41b loaf, the master bakers receive £5 8s 4d. Yet the rise in Hour is onlv ,C2 10s!—I am, etc., M. JONES.