THE PRICE OF BREAD.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 239, 9 October 1907, Page 4

THE PRICE OF BREAD.

A rise has taken place in Wellington in the price of bread, and the question whether the advance is justified naturally arises, seeing that the Wellington Bread Co. has decided to retain the price at the former figure. We learn from our i exchanges that the President of the Master Bakers' Union considers the decision to increase the price had not alone been forced on by the present and prospective price of flour. There were other elements. For instance, I wood was dearer than ever, horsefeed was more expensive, and wages were higher. Many things contributed to enhance the cost of production, and reasonable people would see the necessity for- the increase. On the other side Mr Tonks, the manager of the Wellington Bread Company, considers ; the price prior to the rise, which his company is continuing to charge, is a fair and reasonable one, from which ;it will appear that there are differing standpoints from which to judge as to what is reasonable. The Bread Company's manager seems to take a commonsense view of the matter. He recognises that bread-making is not a fortune-making business, but the proper course to take in these matters is to make the fat year pay for the lean one. If flour dropped £1 per ton in one year, the baker should take the beneiit of that, and he should be prepared to bear the brunt of increased price, within reasonable extent. His firm was acting on that principle now, and failing any great increase in the price of flour there would be no advance on the bread rate now charged. Questioned as to c-ost of production, Mr Tonks said there could not be much doubt about the fact that it had increased. As between fifteen years ago and the present day, the cost (from the wheat to the baked bread) had increased by thirty shillings a ton. Prom personal observation during the last twenty years he asserted that wheat, wages, labour, horse feed—the cost of everything had increased. An interesting point was raised during an interview with Mr Tonks by a Post reporter. Mr Tonks expressed the opinion that a farthing currency would meet much of the difficulty now experienced in regulating the price of bread, as a halfpenny rise was sometimes in excess of what ii-i*3 actually necessary. There may be something in this contention, but it -would only apply to the cash purchngo of a single loaf. Where

monthly accounts are the rule there is no difficulty in adjusting the mattor.