No. XIII.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2128, 27 February 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

No. XIII.

Number Tiiirtekv, the baker's dozen. Happy thought, why not make it fo ? Well, be it as desired. la an inquiry into the baker's profits, wo must also deal with his neighbours as well. I mean the miller. Ay, make the ovens and millstones groan out in shame. Here again we must bring in the eveilasting figured, I am sorry, as I know to most people figures are dry, and, as a rule, uninteivstiny in the extreme. Unfortunately in our tiny we cannot do without them, and when they can be brought to bear upon a question arc usually a conclusive proof. In this letter I deal only with the baker and miller, avoiding on this occasion the corn merchant, auctioneer and commission a^etit. In the case of bread, as in that of meat, I take only the "weekly consumption 1' by the population of this province. The weekly consumption per head of the population I put at 51bs of bread, including everything, as confectionery, etc. This I know is a# safe margin, as the flour imported iuto Eiiglaud amounts to *2501bs per head of the population, which is about five-eighths of a pound per day, which, with the home piorlnotions, brings'the annual consumpti >n per head to over 3Solbs. 120.0C0 people consuming olbs of bread per head gives a totil weekly consumption of 600,0001b5. This quantity of bread will n present about 470,0001bs of flour, which fliur is eqiulj to G<)f>.3oo lbs of whb.it. These icsiiUs arc nwlved at in the following way. There is ou an average a2B per cent. <ya'-i of bread over flou"; or 100 lbs of flour {si vps a 128 lbs result in th«» shape of bread; and the wheat is caloulited as producing 67^ per cent, of floiir f 27 J per cent, of fthaips and bran, allow: ij? a 6 per cent, loss in grinding. Iho average price of bread I fi~ at 3£ pence per 21b loaf. This price is ruther under than over the average, as the retail market pi ice ranees from 3 to 4 pence per 2lbs loaf, 3£ pence being a very common price, and aa this average price includes coHfeotiona.y, etc., I think 1 have placed myself safely beyond the point of attack. GOO.OOO lbs at 3id per 2 lbs, £4062 10s; 470,000 lbs of flou- at £9 per 2000 lbs, £2115 ; or a difference in favour of bread of £1057 10s; a percentage difference of bread over flour of rather over 92 per cent. Tho p*loo of £9 per 2000 lbs of flou' is nearly 1£ penny per lb. In the above statement I have taken no accouit whatnvcr of adulteration, or tho u«J' lg of foreign and deleterious materials, or oi usi i# cheap flou • made from damaged wheat, all of which w' 1, when indi*'gcd ii by unscrupulous men, j,.eatly erhence tho profits.

A difference in favour of flour, Lian, etc., over wheat of £760 ss, equal to a gross percentage difference of rather over

41 \ per cent, or between the baker and the miller there is a gross percentage) gain o\er the wheat sold equal to 133$ per cent. The bread gain is calculated on the flour, but to look at it from the farmer* point of view the matter is much WOise, 06 ho sells wheat to the amount of 618:]S, which .sells fn the shape of bread for £'1002 10s ; .mil blni'ts ami bran for £374.103— £4037 ; or a diH'ercime between wheat bread etc. of t'2709, n gross peiceutagt! diflt'ience between the wheat sold mid the sum realised for bread and bian of 152 per cent. Tins " 1.V2 per cent" is so far as the pi')i!iicc-rs and coniumera arc concerned, a " leduetio ail almirdnm," or a reducing their position to an absurdity. A fanner sells 20* worth of wheat, while the buyeis of bread and br.m pay over S(K the 30s going to millers and bakers. This io c\cn a woiso state of affairs than the auctioneer and baker. In dealing with tlio above tigare3 1 have been as lcnii tit as possible so as to be within a safe margin. Sometimes in the Auckland papers there appears a tear-stained letter fioin some poor broken hearted paterfamilias, who, out of the anguish of his hciit, rushes into print thereby seeking to raise even a faint expression of public sjmpathy with himself and disapprobation of the high price charged for bread by those naughty bakeis; there is no response — the New Zealand nublic are liaid to rouse, though defraucied on all hands, by the highest powers and the least in the land, yet submit like lambs, without ovea having the courage to utter one little bleat— except from the bakers, ami they with a cold blooded nonchalance tell the discontented ones to make their own bread. Do they mean pater or mater to make it? for surely they do not mean the latter, as the mothers of our families have more than sufficient to do without adding tho labour of making tho broad. The bakers may write, refuting and contending as they like, but after all tho plain fact remains that they make enormous profits, and sell an article for 34/1 which can be made and retailed foe 2{,d per 21b loaf, und then leave a "reasonable " profit in hand. I wou'd have consumers remember that I have mentioned a 28 per cent, gain of broad over flour This gain is entirely water, so out of evei y fivo loaves one may bo reckoned as water, which posts you about lgd per lb. The difference between 2£d and 3Jd per 21b loaf is tbrco farthings, which upon the 2^d is equal to 30 per cent, and put the reasonable profit on 2.^1 at 10 per cent., thus giving 40 per cent, nett profit gamed by the baker, at tho price of 3^d per 2lb loaf. We will now leave this poor, iP -used m^ n j n the shape of a baker, aud step in. to see bis next-door neighbour, tho mi"or, whose case we partially investigated at the commencement, and stilve to ascertain what his nett profits are. This will not be a very difficult matter, as the basis of our further Wve.^tigation is easily found in the advertised prices at which the millers are prepared to g«ind the wheut of the farmers, or other people who may have purchased wheat from the fanners. This price is ono shilling per bushel. We are not to suppose that out of th's shilling there is no profit, for tho nv'ling business is not a philanthropic one. If wo take nincpence of this to cover alla 11 expenses, lca\'ig threepence as profit, or 2') per cent, and as we had 11, COS bushels to deal with, less the SGO bushels, loss in gi lading, lea vis a net quantity of 11,028 bushels ut wheat actu illy converted fnto flour aud bran, and sold. £ s. d. 11,028 bushels costing 9d per buihel for grinding, &c. ... 413 11 0 and taking this from the gross gain of . . . . . 7GO 5 0 leaves a net gain of . . 340 14 0 equ *l to a nett per centngo gain of rather under 19 per cent. Some may tHnk that tills is no extraordinary profit, bnt I as^u -o you it is. In a" the instances of profit yet drawn, I have based them purely on the oriji'nal produce of tho ! fa.-n, as cattle, Bheep and wheat, as biingmg them to a (?-xct beaming upon the farmer's produce. This is by no means the sti ict business way of look ng at it, for a man entcilug into bi's : ncss does not calculate his profit on raw mateilalb, or anytr-'ng e's*, but upon the capital invested. And this capital may be trrncd over from two to four times in I retail business, and about double those t'-nes i i wholesale, and I venturo to ussorfcth.it in tho trades I have had under review tho profit upon capital must bo .something enormous, ranging from 50 to 150 per cent. I cm give instances of men who to-dny are comparatively werlthy, though three and four years back weio practical^ penniless. Besides, in the case of the miller I have'nt mentioned the item of damaged wheat üb:d in the manufacture of flour. Ut. Prosim.

Lord Vkkxon, President of the British Dairy Farmers Association, has proposed that experiments should be carried out with the object of solving the following questions : — What is the smallest quantity of food upon which stall-fed cattle can be successfully and economically kept ; to what extent does a further supply of food repay ita cost in the enhanced value of the milk ; what relation should the constituents of the food have to each other to produce milk, butter, and cheese ? It is suggested that these experiments should be made under the superintendence of a committee of the association, and Lord Vernon, who has undertaken to provide everything necessary for their use, desires that any information obtained should be published for the benefiit of those conucctcd with dairy farming. The proposal will be considered at a special council meeting to be held at the Agricultural Hall duriig the Smith* field Cattle bhow.

The Dunedin "Evening Herald" thus concluded an articlo on the comparative healthiness of the Auckland and Dunedn climates :— Our recollection of a viait to Auckland was parboiling iv a steam-kettle or vapour bath. For pure enjoyment of life it is an absurdity to compare the muggy relaxing atmosphere of the water-girt northern capital, with the bracing hcalthgiviug climate of Dunedin, even with the temperature lowered by a southerly burster. Since we cannot live in peace, by all means let us separate and enjoy our special felicities. Let each manage its own concerns and spend its own cash. We are getting positively tued of "roads and bridges north of Auckland." "On December 31, at Monte Carlo, Major William Murray, late 10th Hussars, aged 74." We imagine (says the Whitehall Review) that few who noticed this announcement were aware that the deceased, beyond having served with his regiment : l the Crimea, had been the principal actor ;n; n that sanguinary tragedy in Northumberland-street, Strand, which in the year IS6I horrified all London when it came to know of the deed. The Mui .ay-Roberts affair — a nine-days' wonder iv its time — was simply a murderous rencontre be i, ween Major Murray and a person named Roberts, who had enticed the former to his chambers in Northumberland-street with a view to killing him — as a rival in. the affections of a lady. In broad daylight, and unknown to the passers-by, a terrible and prolonged encounter between tho two took place, it being donbtful for a long time which would prove victor ; but Major Murray eventually succeeded in finishing off his adversary by smash'ng a bottle over his head, after almost every article of furniture in the room had been demolished in the encounter. From the effects of this blow Roberts died ; his fearfullywounded antagonist surviving, however^ as has been ahowo, until the other day. It may be added that Major Murray was put on his trial for murder, but was acquitted on the grounds of justifiable: homicide.

£ s d G0G,300 lbs of wheat at GO lbs per bushel equals II,GOB bushels, which at an aterfe price of 3-i 2d per bus>hel gives 1838 0 0 1838 0 0 Producing 170,137 lb^ of flour, 235 1-15 tons ati'9 pur 2000 Ibb Producing 191,537 lb-> of bran and sharps, 9~>£ tons at £G per 2C30 lbs 2115 12 0 574 0 0 Total Loss 31,8215 lba wheat, SSO buslieL at 3s 2d per.bu->hel 2G90 2 0 - 91 17 0 Leas ing a balance of 2~>98 r , 0