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Bank of England; Public Balances in the, Civil List, 343, 616.

660, 871.

(VOL. XXX. )

Cochrane, Lord, 309, 336.

(k)

REPORT

FROM THE

COMMITTEE ON LAWS RELATING TO THE MANUFACTURE, SALE, AND ASSIZE OF

BREAD.

Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed, 6 June 1815.

THE COMMITTEE appointed to inquire into the State of the existing Laws which regulate the Manufacture and Sale of Bread, and whether it is expedient to continue the Assize thereon under any and what Regulations, and to report the Matter thereof as it should appear to them to the House, together with their Observations and Opinion thereupon; and to whom the Petition of several Bakers of the City and Suburbs of the City of Canterbury, was referred ;

Have proceeded in pursuance of the orders of the House, to examine and compare the statute called 'Assisa Panis et Cervisiæ,' made in the 51st year of Henry 3, with the ordinances made in the reign of Edward 1, the 12th year of Henry 7, the 34th of Elizabeth, and the Book of Assize published by Order of Council in the year 1638. Your Committee find, that the 51st of Henry 3. was (at the petition of the Bakers of Coventry) an exemplification of certain ordinances of Assize made in the reign of King John, the purpose of which appears to have been to regulate the charges and profits of Bakers; it being stated, immediately after the specification of the table of assize in the Act," that then a baker in every quarter of wheat (as it is proved by the King's bakers) may gain fourpence and the bran, and two loaves for advantage; for "three servants three halfpence, for two lads one halfpenny, in salt one halfpenny, "for kneading one halfpenny, for candle one farthing, for wood twopence, for his "bultel (or bolting) three halfpence," in all sixpence three farthings, and two loaves for advantage.

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Your Committee observing the allowance thus stated to be made to the bakers, was partly in money and partly in bread, proceeded to examine in what way the table of assize was constructed for the purpose of ensuring to them that allowance; and they found, that of eight sorts of bread which were included in the table, the sixth is that which has been called Wheaten Bread in the subsequent Assize Laws. Of this bread it is stated in the table, "when wheat shall sell at 12d. the quarter, the farthing loaf shall weigh 10. 11s. 6d., which weight (as was usual in those times) being expressed in pounds shillings and pence, your Committee find to be the Saxon or Tower pound, which is to the Troy pound, in the proportion of 15 to 16; and accordingly, when the Troy weight was established in 18th of Henry 8, the tables of assize were duly adjusted in that proportion. Subsequently, in the 13th of Charles 1, when the Avoirdapois weight was introduced, the tables were again adjusted according to the known principle, that 73 ounces Troy equal 80 ounces Avoirdupois.

From which statement it is apparent, that the quantity of wheaten bread expressed in the Statute by the denomination of 10l. 11s. 6d., is equal to 10-575 lbs. Troy, and 8-7087 lbs. Avoirdupois; as one loaf of this weight was to be sold for a farthing when a quarter of wheat was at 12d. it follows, that 48 such loaves (which weigh 418-02 lbs. Avoirdupois) was the exact quantity of bread which was to be sold for the price of a quarter of wheat; whatever bread could be made from it over and above 418 lbs. was for the baker's advantage, and this is stated in the statute to have been proved, on experiment, to have amounted to two loaves; and if these were peck loaves, 452 lbs.

14 oz. of wheaten bread was the quantity obtained by the King's bakers from a quarter of wheat.

Your Committee proceeded to examine, whether the quantity of bread which can be made from a quarter of wheat, is such as to justify the above interpretation of the Statute; and they found in the Report of a Committee of the House which sat in 1774, the detail of many accurate experiments upon that subject; but your Committee beg leave to refer to the record of an experiment which was reported to the House by the Committee on the High Price of Provisions in 1800, by which it ap pears, that the flour from a quarter of wheat weighing only 55 lbs. a bushel, and dressed after the mode now in use for preparing flour for the London market, was baked into 433 lbs. of wheaten bread, and 25 lbs. of household bread. And your Committee, relying confidently upon the accuracy of that experiment, are thereby assured, that when the baker was forced to sell no more than 418 lbs. of bread for the price of a quarter of wheat, he really obtained in surplus bread the two loaves for advantage which the Statute professed to allow him; although it is probable the bread was not of quite so fine a quality as the wheaten bread now in use,

The money allowance appears by its specified application in the Statute, to have been for the purpose only of repaying the baker's charges for grinding and baking. The advantage loaves were for his maintenance and profit; but your Committee do not find the mode is exactly specified by which the money allowance was paid: in later times the mode of payment was described at length in the book published by Order of Council in the latter part of the reign of queen Elizabeth, and which refers to a former Book of Assize as follows: "In the reign of Henry 7, the bakers were allowed two shillings for their charges in baking a quarter of wheat and the bran, as plainly appeareth in the said old Assize Book, which hath relation to the Statute of Winchester aforesaid, in which Assize Book it is declared in what manner the said two shillings is to be allowed; that is to say, when wheat was at 12s. the quarter, the baker should bake at 14s. the quarter; when at 14s. he is to bake at 16s. the quarter; as in the said book is to be seen, and is to follow at the same rate at what price soever wheat is at the quarter." As this mode has heen in use down to the present time, and is above referred to as having been long established, it is probably that which was in the earliest times adopted.

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Your Committee proceeded to trace the successive alterations which had taken place in these two allowances to the bakers, and with regard to the payment in money, they found it was from time to time increased and altered: in the 12th of Henry 7, it was raised to two shillings per quarter; and your Committees beg leave to point out, that a large portion of this allowance appears to have been appropriated to the baker and his family, who by 51 of Henry 3, were provided for by the advantage loaves.

"Anno 1405, 12 Henry 7, and as the said Book of Assize declareth," "when the best wheat was sold at 75., the second at 6s. 6d., and the third at 6s. thes quarter,

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The Baker was allowed,

"Furnace and wood.............

"The Miller..............

"Two journeymen and two apprentizes.....................................

"Salt, yeast, candle and sack bands...........

Himself, his house, his wife, his dog, and his cat...............

In all.............

"And the Branne to his advantage."

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But as 418 lbs. was still the quantity of bread to be sold for the price of a quarter of wheat, your Committee are led to believe that the allowance in bread no longer continued to be noticed.

During the reigns of James 1, and Charles 1, the money allowance was at 6s.; by the statute of 8th of Anne, the money allowance was raised to 12s., but by a slight error in the calculation of the tables the weight of bread was reduced to 4171bs.; and as this statute continued in force down to the year 1758, this accidental variation is the only one which for the long period of 556 years took place in the quantity of bread which was to be sold for the price of a quarter of wheat.

The Act of 31 Geo. 2, repealed the 8th of Anne, and it contained a table of assize constructed on a principle differing from all those which preceded it; instead of 417 lbs. the bakers were to sell no more than 365lbs. of wheaten bread for the price of a quarter of wheat, and 52 lbs. of bread were by these means added to the two advantage loaves originally granted, an alteration which could not fail materially to raise the price of bread; and your committee therefore beg leave to point out its practical result. By the table in 8th of Anne, when wheat was at 84s. and the baker's allowance at 12s. the quarter, 4 lbs. 5 oz. 8 dr. being a quartern loaf of wheaten bread, was to be sold for one shilling.

By the table of Geo. 2, when wheat was equally at 84s. and the baker's allowance at 12s. the quarter, the quartern loaf of wheaten bread was to be sold for 132d. But as there is nothing in the Act itself, or in any of the records of the House, which your Committee have examined, which in any way notices the important alteration above pointed out, your Committee have no means of explaining the grounds on which it was made.

The operation of the law however, and the higher price of bread it occasioned, gave rise to much inquiry; and in the 13th of the King, an Act was passed, the object of which was to restore the bread laws to their former footing. This statute contained a re-enactment of the table of the 8th Anne, and contained also specific directions for dressing the flour of which the bread was to be made; but as these directions were in themselves contradictory, and as the profits to the bakers were by the construction of the table so largely reduced, they found means to prevent the possibility of putting it in force in London, although an attempt was made to do so in the year 1800.

Your Committee having proceeded thus far in their examination of the tables of assize, by which according to the market-price of wheat (and latterly of flour) the price of bread was to be set, proceeded to inquire in what way that market-price was directed to be ascertained; and on this subject they found nothing earlier than the statute of Anne: therein it is directed generally, "That the magistrates, in setting "the assize of bread, are to have respect to the price of grain, meal or flour whereof "such bread shall be made, shall bear in the several public markets.”

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By the 31st of Geo. 2, the magistrates are in like manner directed" to have respect to the prices which grain, meal and flour shall bear in the public market;" but it proceeds also to direct and empower the meal-weighers of the City of London to collect the respective prices the grain, meal or flour shall openly and publicly be sold for during the whole market, and not at any particular times thereof, and the returns so collected, the meal-weigher or clerk of the market was to give in, and to certify upon oath; and by these returns, the price of bread continued to be set as long as the 31st Geo. 2 continued in operation.

Your Committee beg leave in this place to point out, that the Preamble of the Act of Anne contains a clear definition of the object of these laws, which is there stated to be" to provide for the observance of the due assize, or the reasonable price of "bread, and to prevent covetous and evil-disposed persons for their own gain and "lucre from deceiving and oppressing her Majesty's subjects, especially the poorer "sort;" and your Committee are of opinion, that without the allowance made to the bakers, whether it is in advantage bread or in money, or in both, is moderate and reasonable; and further, that without the returns which are obtained of the prices of wheat or flour, are the real prices at which they are bonâ fide sold openly and in public market, the above defined benevolent intention of the Legislature cannot be obtained by the operation of the Assize Law; and your Committee, referring to the detail they have given of the most essential points in those laws which have heretofore been acted upon, by which it appears that the advantage bread continued to be allowed to the bakers, whilst the money allowance was largely increased, and whilst the value of the surplus bread was increased also with its augmented money price. Your committee cannot but entertain doubts, whether the Assize Laws, even in their earlier and better state, ever really effected their intended object; but in later times, when the tables in the 31st Geo. 2 came into use, your Committee are founded in believing they had a contrary effect.

Your Committee next proceeded to examine the Act of the 37th of the King, and the subsequent Acts by which that Act has been explained and amended; and they found in the first place, that their operation is limited to the City of London, and the

space within ten miles of the Royal Exchange: the first of these Acts contains two tables of assize, one for wheat, and another for flour; and it is left to the discretion of the magistrate to fix the price of bread either by the one or the other, as he may see fit: And your Committee finding, that this is the first statute which ever contained a regular flour table, beg leave to point out the course of this innovation in the ancient assize system; from the year 1202 to 1709, the price of bread depended solely on the price of wheat, and the allowance to the bakers always included the charges for grinding and bolting; and by the ancient custom of the land, where toll was taken, every twentieth grain (or 5 per cent. on the weight of the wheat) was deemed sufficient remuneration.

It was not until the 8th of Anne that the magistrates were directed to have reference to the price of flour in fixing the assize of bread; but it appears on the Journals of the House, that in the year 1735, a petition was presented to the House by the Bakers Company, stating the hardships under which they laboured, and praying that the assize of bread might be set by the price of flour. A committee to whom this petition was referred, reported to the House, That the petitioners had fully proved the allegations in their petition, and recommended the assize of bread should be set by the price of flour; and it appears that a Bill was brought in accordingly, but the House did not proceed therein; the 31st Geo. 2. in part provided for this object, for it is therein directed generally, that 20 peck loaves are to be made and sold from a sack of 280 lbs. of flour; and by this direction it appears, the magistrates of the City of London proceeded to fix the price of bread, and from that time but little reference has been had to the price of wheat. Still, however, the directions were only general, until the 37th of the King provided a regular table for the purpose, calculated upon the same principle as was laid down in the former Act; and here it is to be observed, that no advantage bread was intended to be allowed to the baker, it having been assumed that 20 peck loaves is the whole quantity which can be made from a sack of flour, though your Committee were informed by several witnesses whom they examined, that a larger quantity is almost always made from it: by this table a money allowance of 11s. 8d. per sack was made to the baker, which has been subsequently increased to 14s. Id.

The wheat table differs but little from that in the preceding Act, though it has been calculated on the principle that seven bushels and a half of wheat are equal to the price of a sack of flour, and not, as it ought to have been, on the quantity of bread which could be obtained from a quarter of wheat; but the result is, that the quantity of 365 lbs. of bread in the table of 31st Geo. 2, is increased to 371 lbs.; by which alteration the advantage bread is reduced to 46 lbs. and the two loaves originally granted; in addition to this there is a money allowance of 14s. per quarter, which has since been increased to 16s. 9d.; and your Committee beg leave to point out that this sum amounts to more than 8d. on a peck loaf, whereas the money allowance on a sack of flour is less than that amount; the larger allowance being intended to cover the charges of grinding, whilst the amount of the surplus bread would seem to have escaped notice; by either of these tables, though constructed on such widely different principles, the magistrates may fix the price of bread; but as the value of the allowance in the one is so much larger than in the other, the price of bread by the one could not fail to be greater than by the other, if the charges for converting wheat into flour bore the same proportion to the price of a quarter of wheat, which for many centuries they continued to do in this country; and on this part of the subject, your Committee could not help observing with surprise, that the price of bread as actually set by the flour table, was nearly as high, and sometimes actually higher than it would have been, if set by the wheat table.

With a view to ascertain the cause of this unexpected operation of the law, your Committee proceeded to examine the mode in which the returns of flour and of wheat are now obtained: and with regard to the first, they found, that instead of the mode which has been before pointed out, the bakers are now directed to make weekly returns upon oath, to the Cocket-office, of all flour and meal which shall have respectively been bought by them during the week preceding; and the price of bread depends entirely on the average of these returns, as they must be acted on as true without they can be proved to be false, whenever the price of bread is set by the flour table.

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