340 LAND REFORM 



corn — in other words, the supply and demand. But 

 whatever the cause, the fact remains that the changes 

 in the price of bread have never tallied with the 

 fluctuations in the price of wheat. 



During the three years, 1877, 1878, 1879, the price 

 of wheat averaged 49s. per quarter, and the price 

 of household bread in London averaged about 7^d. 

 the 4-lb. loaf In the three years, 1893, 1894, 1895, 

 the average price of wheat fell to 24s. id., or to less 

 than one half, but the price of bread in London fell, 

 not one half, but only to 5-^d. 



Even in September of the present year (1905), with 

 wheat about 30s. per quarter, the mean price of bread 

 throughout Great Britain was 5 '43d. (say S^d.) for 

 the 4-lb. loaf, while in 1867 and 1868, when wheat 

 averaged 64s. 7d. per quarter, or just double, the 

 price was only 7jd. in London, and no doubt less 

 throughout the country. In Edinburgh, in March of 

 the present year, the price was 6^d. per quartern loaf, 

 as against 6f d. (or about the same) in the bad year of 

 1843, when wheat was 50s. per quarter.^ 



When the Corn Laws were abolished a duty of one 

 shilling per quarter on imported grain was retained. 

 There was no objection raised to this provision ; it 

 was regarded simply as a small fee to pay the expenses 

 of registration. In 1869 the Chancellor of the Ex- 

 chequer (Mr. Lowe, afterwards Lord Sherbrooke) took 

 off this duty. Its abolition was not asked for and was 

 not wanted by anybody ; it was simply a sacrifice of 

 what was called the " last rag of protection " to the 



^ The calculations here made and the averages stated are based on 

 figures given in Tooke's " History of Prices," Vols. IV. and V. ; "Whole- 

 sale and Retail Prices," 321, 1903 ; "Statistical Tables," Cd. 2337, 1904; 

 " Board of Trade Labour Gazette," 1903. 



