C XV ) 



THE PEICE OF PROVISIONS. 



1st Quarter. — The average price of wheat was 70?. Id. and 72s. 3(/. 

 in the two periods of thirteen Aveelcs ending September 1855, and 

 September 1850; it fell to bds. lid. in the thirteen weeks ending 

 September 1857. "Wheat is consequently 17 per cent, cheaper than 

 it was last jeaa: The price of beef by the carcase in the Leaden- 

 hall and Newgate markets has fallen in the three summers from 

 5ld. to old. per ponnd ; that is, 8i per cent. The price of mutton 

 by the carcase has follen from 6d. to 5^d. a pound, or 4 per cent., in 

 the same seasons. The price of potatoes has unfortunately risen 

 from 74s. to 78s. and to 105s. a ton, in the three seasons ; it was 42 

 per cent, higher in the thirteen weeks ending September 1857 than 

 the prices of the same season in 1855. The scarcity of potatoes is 

 likely to produce scurvy in the countiy, as people are not gene- 

 rally aware that potatoes are an anti-scorbutic, which can only be 

 replaced by fruit and vegetables. The abundant crop of apples 

 will supply to a certain extent the vegetable acids which experience 

 has shown that the human frame requires to maintain its elements 

 in equilibrium. 



2nd Quarter. — The price of wheat was 52s. a quarter, while in the 

 corresponding three months of 1855 and 1850 it was 79s. 4d. and 

 e3s. 4d. The reduction was 34 and 18 percent, respectively on the 

 prices of the two previous years. The price of beef by the carcase 

 at the Leadenhall and Newgate markets was o%d. per pound, while 

 it was in the same seasons of 1855 and 1856 respectively 5|c?., and 

 off?, a pound. Mutton was in the autumns of the three years (1855, 

 1856, and 1857) 5-|r/. a pound. The potato crop failed, and the 

 average price of York Eegents at the waterside market, Southwark, 

 was. 140s. a ton, or 16 lbs. for a shilling. In the preceding autumns 

 of 1855 and 1856 the price of potatoes was 95s. and 100s. a ton. The 

 price of potatoes was 40 per cent, higher than it was in the three 

 autumn months of 1856. This high price necessarily limits the 

 consumption of potatoes among the poorer classes of artizans in the 

 towns ; and the family of the labourer, whose crop has failed in the 

 country, must suffer still more severely, as he has not the means of 

 purchasing other commodities. The want of potatoes often induces 

 scurvy, but no direct evidence of that disease is yet mentioned by 

 the registrars. It is, however, not seldom the marked cause ol other 

 maladies. 



