APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 137 



week, or even to less, as your com- 

 mittee are of opinion, from infor- 

 mation which they have received, 

 that less will be sufficient in such 

 families. With respect to barley, 

 which your committee have stated 

 as the first substitute to be resorted 

 to in a scarcity of wheat, they see, 

 with great satisfaction, that laws 

 have been passed to prevent the use 

 of barley in the distilleries, and to 

 allow of such alterations in the me- 

 thod of making malt from such bar- 

 ley as is not fit for the food of man, 

 as to introduce so much larger a 

 proportion of this grain to be used 

 as bread. The lords' committees 

 have, for a similar reason, great 

 satisfaction in observing, that the 

 attention of all persons is called by 

 his majesty's proclamation to the 

 utmost saving in the use of oats by 

 horses, as they are informed that a 

 saving may be made of at least one- 

 fourth, in the ordinary method of 

 feeding horses not used for the 

 hardest work, particularly by the 

 mode lately adopted with the best 

 effect in this metropolis (as given 

 in evidence before your committee), 

 namely, by mixing chopped hay 

 and straw with oats so given. 



Part Third.-— Freedom ofCircula- 

 ' tion. 



Your committee feel themselves 

 "strongly called upon to point out 

 the great importance of preserving 

 the commerce and circulation of 

 ^ain in the interior of this kingdom 

 perfectly free and open, as the only 

 method of preserving any degree of 

 level through the different markets 

 of the kingdom, and as the most 

 efficient means of securing to the 

 consumer bread at the cheapest rate. 



It has clearly appeared to your 



tommlttee, by the evidence of the 

 witnesses examined, that all ob- 

 structions to the purchase or removal 

 of grain, and every event which 

 created apprehensions in the minds 

 either of the farmers or of the 

 dealers in corn, as to the security 

 and freedom of their trade, have 

 uniformly tended to raise the price, 

 and have, in many instances, 

 proved highly injurious to the com- 

 munity at large, particularly by 

 rendering difficult in one place, as 

 stated to your committee, the cir- 

 culation of seed corn, and absolutely 

 in some instances, preventing the 

 baking of a sufficient quantity of 

 bread for the usual consumption. 



As far as has appeared to your 

 committee (and they have not neg- 

 lected to examine, extensively, as 

 to the existence of the supposed 

 combinations and fraudulent prac- 

 tices of imfair dealers), they have 

 not been able to trace, in any one 

 instance, any thing more than such 

 suspicious and vague reports as usu- 

 ally prevail in times of scarcity; and 

 they are of opinion, that what have 

 been represented as deep schemes 

 and fraudulent practices to raise the 

 market, have been only the com- 

 mon and usual proceedings of deal- 

 ers in all articles of commerce where 

 there is a great demand, and where 

 great capitals and great activity are 

 employed. 



Your committee do not take upon 

 them to determine that no abuses 

 have been in any instance committed 

 by individuals ; but in the trade at 

 large they have hitherto perceived 

 no injurious system to prevail; and 

 they are confident the fullest and 

 most ample protection ought to be 

 afforded to all dealers in com by 

 the legislature and by the magis- 

 trates, not only from attention to 



