THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



331 



THE FLOUR TRADE OF THE METROPOLIS. 



The extent and iniportiuicc of the corn trade of the 

 kingdom and of the metropolis are too well known to 

 our readers to require much special notice at our hands ; 

 but with the "daily bread" wants of a population, in 

 London and its suburbs, approximating upon three 

 millions, a glance at the London flour trade is not 

 without its interest. The Londoners, of all classes, 

 consume little, comparatively speaking, of any other 

 grain than the best wheaten bread. And taking the 

 ordinary accepted consumption of one quarter per 

 head per annum, we have a demand of about 24,000,000 

 quarters of wheat for tlie supply of the metropolis. 



It is difficult to ascertain the precise quantities ar- 

 riving by land for sale in Mark-lane at different periods 

 But confining ourselves to wheat and flour, we have the 

 arrivals by sea for the year 1857 to refer to. The im- 

 ports in that year, coastwise and foreign, were 630,878 

 quarters of wheat, and 456,779 cwts. of flour, equal to 

 761,387 quarters of wheat. As compared with 1850, 

 this shows a considerable decrease in the sea-borne im- 

 ports of flour and wheat for the metropolis, which in 

 that year consisted of 913,426 quarters of wheat, 

 and 803,585 sacks of flour. The difference be- 

 tween these imports and the computed aggregate 

 consumption must be of home growth brought up by 

 railway, &:c., from the country. To supply the bread 

 of London there are, in the first instance, about 20 

 corn merchants, more than 500 corn dealers, 106 

 corn and flour factors, 20 granary keepers, 48 

 millers, and 2,600 bakers, to say nothing of various 

 workmen and traders more or less identified and in- 

 terested, such as corn chandlers, journeymen bakers, 

 sack dealers, yeast merchants, &c. 



Confining ourselves chiefly to the foreign flour, it is 

 worth while to mark the progress of the trade, and to 

 notice what proportion London takes of this. Liverpool 

 is the chief port of entry, from its extensive American 

 trade, the imports of flour there averaging 1,750,000 

 to 2,000,000 cwt. a year, while London only receives 

 about a fourth of the aggi'egate supplies of foreign flour. 



Since the abrogation of the corn laws, tliis country 

 has become the great depot to which exporting nations 

 send their surplus. From the appended figures it will 

 be seen that the average annual imports of foreign flour 

 into the kingdom in the last seven years have been 

 3,541,000 cwt. 



Imports of Flour and Meal into the 

 United Kingdom. 



The principal quarters of shipment in America are 

 Detroit, which sends off about 700,000 barrels, Chicago 

 400,000 or 500,000 barrels, Oswego 300,000 barrels, 

 Rochester 600,000 barrels, and Now York a large 

 quantity. 



The exports of flour from the United States have 

 varied considerably, according to the European har- 

 vests. In 1854 they were 4,000,000 barrels, while in 

 1855 they were only 1,200,000 barrels. Considerable 

 shipments of American flour are made to Brazil, 

 Australia, and other distant quarters. 



In this country our tradesmen have perfect liberty 

 of action, and our bakers are not compelled, as in 

 France, by imperial decrees, to lay in, at command, a 

 three months' stock of wheat or flour; but can s;uit 

 their own convenience as to holding stock, and watch 

 the course of the markets. Were it not so, the con- 

 sumer would materially suffer, and the baking business 

 be even more precarious and unprofitable than it is at 

 present. 



With respect to the general quality of flour '::g'c 

 with in the London market we think th'";^ is little to 

 complain of. Sour or dr.'.r.agev* nour will not sell 

 here. Even the cheap price baker knows the impolicy 

 of mixing it up, for his customers are as shrewd in de- 

 tecting the quality of his bread as he is in making it. 

 Still, that there is an immense quantity of damaged 

 and inferior flour shipped from American ports to dif- 

 ferent foreign quarters cannot be denied. Especially 

 is this the case in Australia. A select committee 

 of the Legislative Council of New South Wales has 

 recently been taking evidence upon the state of the 

 articles of food sold in the city of Sydney, and the 

 colony generally, and the policy of an official inspector 

 considered. 



The inquiry appears to have been chiefly directed to 

 the bad quality and adulteration of flour ; and the re- 

 velations on this head are perfectly astounding. Its 

 effect upon the public health are stated to be baneful 

 in the extreme, and the great infant mortality of the 

 city is chiefly ascribed to it. Some of the witnesses as- 

 serted that there were thousands of tons of damaged 

 flour in Sydney and other parts of the colony quite 

 unfit for human food, which was bought up by the 

 millers for mixing with sound flour. Here is the evi- 

 dence of one witness who had himselfbeen in the trade : 



Mr. AUin Hollinshed says : " There are occasions 

 when immense quantities of damaged flour are used up. 

 Two years ago, he was employed in looking for two 

 thousand barrels of damaged flour to send home as a 

 remittance, and found there was an immense quantity 

 in the market. On applying to the mills to know if they 

 had any refuse to sell cheap, they showed him several 

 thousand barrels; and on his asking what they could 

 do with it, when he was seeking to reduce the price on 

 account of its supposed worthlessness for baking pur- 



