bread of the whole meal, it being in tended to lay a check on both meal man and baker; but in this the bill failed. If only one sort of flour was allowed to be made, the mealman would be obliged to make it, and could have no sale for the finer. If the miller was forced by parlia ment to dress his flour coarser, it would increase the quantity from a given quantity of wheat, as it would take in the finer pollards, which are now, in the common mode of manufacturing, entirely separated from the flour, the expence of manu facturing would be cheaper, and the flour sooner fit for use. The best and most wholesome bread is made from flour that contained the whole of the meal, with the broad bran only taken out; and the fine pol lards contain a sweet oily substance, that prevents the bread from drying in so short a time as bread made from fine flour only. Brown-bread flour, manufactured in the best manner from the whole of the wheat, with the broad bran only taken out, may be ground to-day, dressed tomorrow, and used next day. The poor will not buy the coarser bread if they can buy better, nor be satis fied unless they give the highest price. No bread is now made in London for sale but the fine wheaten. The parliamentary household bread should be made from the whole meal, the broad bran only being taken out; which may be ascertained either by dressing it through a cloth, or wire, woven with a certain number of threads or wire in an inch. What is called a 14s. cloth is generally understood to be proper for use. This flour would bake into such bread as is made in gentlemen's families, where the wheat has been ground in their own mill, and no

tricks played with it. If parliament would give the same encouragement to the baker for making bread from the flour as here stated, as they now have for baking the fine household flour, the millers would be willing to manufacture for that purpose. Flour from Indian corn mixed with wheat would give it a yellow cast; but a small quantity improves ordinary flour very much. White pease are sometimes ground with it in small quantities. If the Albion-mills had ground to the hire it would not have been a profitable concern, which is the case with common millers: they are, therefore, all mealmen. The Albion-mills caused a competition, which reduced the profit to the millers in general. No wheat is used in distilling, nor any objection thence to prohibit the use of wheat and wheat-flour entirely, or carrying any kind of corn coastwise from one port of the united kingdom to another.

Mr. Stonard, starch-maker, said there was no law confining the making of starch to wheat, which made it whiter. No profit on the trouble of making it of rice; and starch merely for washing might be made of barley. The East-India Company's scarlet cloths require starch in dying; and it is useful to the pa per-trade for packing it.

Pease and beans might be used to make it; but potatoe starch has no body, and is made with great waste; it can only be made of vegetable substances; and the number of hogs fed from the offal of it is a considerable object. The committee appointed by the lord-mayor and court of aldermen were of opinion, that the mode by which the prices of wheat and flour have been col lected, under the act of 31 Geo. II. [* G 3]

6.6.

c. 6. by which the assize of bread is regulated, is not efficient to the purpose of obtaining the true prices of all the wheat and Hower within the jurisdiction of the city of London; and they propose that a proper person collect from the meters office an account of all wheat delivered for making bread, and demand of the different sellers of wheat, the price at which each parcel was sold, the average price of the quantity delivered in a week, may become the return on which the assize of bread for the next week may be fixed, and that the price of all flower delivered to bakers within the bills of mortality in a week be the average whereon to fix the assize of bread for the subsequent week. This report was not attended to, because the assize is regulated by the price of flour, not of wheat, and the efficacy of the measure was doubtful. In the month of June, the usual quantity of wheat brought into the London market, fell off full one-half, and flour, as believed, in the same proportion. The whole quantity of wheat that could be exported from the Baltic, was 200,000 quarters; of which our government purchased 120,000; of the remaining 80,000, part would go to France direct, and part thither through Denmark. Very little expectation of importation from America from the old harvest, and from the new none before November. The lords of the council met reguJarly every Wednesday, fom that time, received amounts of wheat and other grain imported or taken on board neutral or other vessels, and distributed to the best of their judgment to the different parts of the country that wanted it, many

places being reduced to three or four days consumption. The lordmayor and the city members attended with their plan of relieving their jurisdiction by subscription, as did the bakers company, to state the difficulty in setting the assize of standard wheaten bread, so as to make it answer to the bakers to sell it. By July 8, there had arrived 22,000 quarters of foreign wheat; 6000 were disposed of to the millers near London from 82s. to 84s. per quarter, and one quarter at 86s. The disuse of hair-powder was deemed not of sufficient conse quence; it is made of starch, and sometimes of ground rice; the quantity of starch so applied is about one-third; very little starch is made at present. The soldiers used flower for powder. In consequence of a report from the attorney and solicitor-general, and serjeant Adair, the lords of the council stated, that many difficulties bad presented themselves with respect to any measure for fixing the assize of standard wheaten bread, contrary to that settled by the 13th of his present majesty, so as to induce the baker to sell it, so that they had come to no resolution thereon. Subscriptions were therefore substituted. The lords were, however, clearly of opinion, that the lord-mayor and court of aldermen should set the assize of standard wheaten bread, and that it should be publicly known that it is so set, agreeably to 31 Geo. II. § 3.

The whole quantity of wheat in hand, July 22, 64,340 quarters; flour, 12,055 barrels. There being a disposition to stop corn and flour in their passage to different parts of the kingdom, the lords declare that

there

there is reason to hope the stock, with the foreign supply, will last till harvest; that exportation was prohibited; and that the magistrates must do their duty; and troops were ordered to protect the free circulation. 6000 quarters were put up to -sale in the London market, and 7000 Monday, July 27. The weekly consumption of flour at Norwich is from 600 to 700 sacks. Some places were supplied by prizeships brought into the nearest port; others from London.

August 5, the whole quantity of wheat in England, undisposed of, was 24,760 quarters.-Aug. 12, 18,450.-Aug. 19, 13,720.-Aug. 26, 15,450.-Sept. 2, 22,430.—No return till Oct. 3, 33,200, and exported from the Baltic, 46,000.Oct. 17,22,600.-Oct. 21,31,000. Oct. 28, 9,330.-Oct. 31, Canada wheat sold from 72 to 77s. per quarter.

At Workington and Whitehaven the people were perfectly satisfied with bread made of barley and rye. Fifty-six ships were sent to Quebec, of which only 28 arrived at different ports in England, and the obtaining the farther quantity was very doubt ful, in consequence of the immense demand for flour in Newfoundland, and for his majesty's service in Nova Scotia and the West Indies. What arrived was the greatest part heated, from being shipped in hot weather; but it would probably recover. The demand for foreign wheat increasing, Mr. Claude Scott, the agent for government, was ordered, Oct. 1, to sell in each week in that month, in the London Market, 5000 quarters, taking care to diminish in proportion to the quantity of British wheat brought in. A bill was pre

paring in October, to prohibit making starch from wheat, and for permitting the importation of starch at a duty, not exceeding the inland duty, now payable on starch made within the kingdom. Free exportation of wheat permitted at Dantzic, and the price declining. Mr. Scott applied for a greater supply for the London market, the demand being so pressing that country mil lers came 60 miles for it. "The price of wheat remained very high in Holland,as the purchasers for that market did not enjoy the same degree of confidence for the present as the English. The French Cons vention was making very liberal proposals to contract for quantities to any extent, to be delivered in France; whence it was to be inferred, that the crops in France had not turned out so well as would appear from the accounts in the newspapers; but it was not to be supposed that any body would enter in to a direct contract with the Con vention, as payment might be subject to such delays and altercation, &c."

Extract of a letter from Dantzic, Sept. 15, 1795.-Messrs. Helicars, in a letter from Bristol, to lord Hawkesbury, Oct. 8, 1795, ob serve, that "the consequence of the late scarcity would have been more serious, had not the calamity been relieved by the foreign importation on government account; a speculation truly justifiable, because the principle, we presume, arose from the conduct of that nation we are at war with; for, it is a fair inference, that no individual merchant can or would risk his property in a trade wherein he had to meet the agents of a nation, the support of whose chimerical constitution depends on [*G 4] a supply

a supply of food; and, to attain which, no sacrifice of property was an obstacle; therefore that nation, whose exigencies were urgent, was compelled to embark at the national cost, or render no relief. Thus, while we beg to pay our tribute of acknowledgement for that seasonable precaution, allow us to express our opinion that, when the causes of justification cease, the scheme should also; for, except in cases so extra ordinary, the supplies of grain will find their way to market through the merchant (under regular and perma. nent laws, adapted to relieve the manufacturer, as well as prudently encourage the farmer), with greater facility, more steadiness, and less expence, than through the medium of any government.

In the counties of Hereford, Monmouth, Worcester, Gloucester, Wilts, Somerset, and Devon, the harvest in point of weather for saving it has been universal, and the crop of spring-sown grain never known to be more at undant; but one general opinion prevails of the defectiveness of the crop of wheat, which may be ascribed to two causes; the destruction of the plant by severe frosts last winter, when the ground was not covered with snow, and the effect of a few frosty nights, when the wheat was in blossom, injuring the top of the ear from filling, and which now affects the yielding very materially. To exemplify it more clearly, the estimation prevails that the stock of old and new British wheat on Sept. 29, 1795, was one-third short of the stock of old and new, Sept. 29, 1794; and it is a most lamentable circumstance to look forward to, when we review the evils likely to result from the late dearth. A fru

introduced substitutes for it in the make of bread, will alleviate in a small degree. The free circulation of corn inland should have every attention and support; for, the late distress was greater than the stock in the growers' hands justified, had not interruption been given by mobs under the sanction of men who ought to have known their duty better. In many districts of only 20 miles, the difference in price was full 10s. to 20s. per quarter more than it ought to have been, comparatively speaking. To these two objects we most humbly suggest to your lordships, should be united that of a timely foreign supply, either by bounty, to encourage the merchants, should the markets be free and open; or, in case they were resorted to as last year, we conceive the national purse cannot be opened for a more laudable purpose than such national necessities, as the property of individuals is inadequate to. The average consumption of Bristol, and the places immediately dependent on it, is about 2000 sacks, or 250 tons of flour; and the effect of inland situations resorting for relief cannot be more fully elucidated than by reference to the failure of 1774, when 60,000 quarters of wheat, and upwards of 50,000 barrels of flour, were imported in twelve months, and circulated in all the adjacent counties.”

English wheat sold at the London market, Oct. 18, at 96s. to 98-.per quarter, 1500 quarters, an advance of 6s. per quarter on the last marketday's price; government wheat from 60s. to 82s. per quarter, 5000 quarters, and more could have been sold had it been fresh and sweet.

Dorset,

Dorset, in part blighted, which made it produce less; the general average defective, but the defect partial. About Yarmouth, the crops one quarter measure per acre, and 2lb. the bushel heavier, than last year. In Kent very defective; and in the fens of Lincolnshire a mate rial deficiency; all owing to the blight. In Hertfordshire, 15 bushels per acre instead of 22 or 23. The small supply brought to London since the last harvest, owing to the deficiency in this year's crop, and the old stock being exhausted, the difficulty of procuring a crop from the additional labour in threshing, arising from the defective quality of the sheaves, the demand for seed-wheat, which perhaps this year exceeds the demand of ordinary years, as the high price leads the farmer to sow more seed. Wheat is generally onetenth of the produce this year; it will be more; and the great part of the supply which used to come to London is drawr. off in consequence of the home demand, and the demand of other districts where the crop has been short. The supply will increase when the seed-time is over, which will be about the middle of November. No idea of the supply being withheld in consequence of combinations, which are believed impossible. Barley generally understood to be abundant. Oats a good crop, but not so many sown as before, but more wheat. Pease a good crop. In Dorset, people resort to barley bread, that grain being plentiful; but probably, while so applied, the price will not be so reasonable as might be expected from the crop.

Another corn-factor states the deficiency of supply arising from the seed-time to be not greater at present, as to English wheat, than it

has been for the last 30 years, but the price and demand much greater than in any part of that period. This demand arises from the neigh bouring counties being entirely without any stock of old wheat, and sending for it to London. The defect is more in the want of flour, which is owing to the millers and mealmen being wholly without any stock of it; and that again is owing to the great want of wheat, and the high price of it for the last three months. The farmers in Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, are threshing out barley; fearing the price of that grain will fall, and not that of wheat; and its produce was very abundant, not less than five quarters per acre. The poorer people rejected standard wheaten bread, not so much be cause they thought it unwholesome, or did not like it, but because it was not universal: if there was no other sort, they would be ent to eat it.

Another says, the wheat was in general thin on the ground, and yields ill; in consequence of blight, the crop of cone wheat is particularly bad; ascribes the want of supply to a sickness among the labourers, reduced from five or six in a barn to one or two; and the late rains have rendered the ground favourable for sowing, to which the farmers apply the corn as fast as threshed. The increase will probably be considerable, as the markets in October are generally thin; but it will not be great till the seed-time is over. The crop of wheat not so bad as to justify the present high price, though it will be probably higher than last year. He does not believe the poorer inhabitants of the kingdom will be induced to eat bread made of other sorts of grain.