CHRISTCHURCH NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4407, 13 July 1901, Page 3

CHRISTCHURCH NEWS.

THE PRICE OF BREAD. Special ro the “Times.” CHRISTCHURCH, July 12. Some days ago a representative of “Truth” made inquiries into a reported rise in tho price of bread locally. Suspicion had fallen on the newly formed Flourrniilers’ Combine, which was blamed for having commenced to made its power felt by raising the price of flour, The pressman, however, as tho result of these inquiries, expressed himself ay sat* isfied that the Millers’ Trust as well as the bakers had been wrongly blamed, and that there was really no rise in he price of bread at all. what had been mistaken for such was the bringing into line of most of those bakers who had been cutting prices, and the general adoption of a rate which has been ruling for some time among those who have not participated in the cut-throat competition. To-night, however, another complexion has been put on the matter by a correspondent of the same paper The writer says tho reporter has been humbugged and given a lot of twaddle by the secretary of the “flour combine,’ and that he can prove that tho price of bread has gone up. Ho adds that he has it on the authority of a master baker here that it was entirely th© influence of the “flour combine” and covert threats that compelled the bakers to again unite. Some masters tried to hold out, but found themselves forced to join. The correspondent further quotes figures with tho object of showing that the bakers ar e making over one hundred per cent, profit on bread. Mr J. G. Smith, one of the candidates at tho by-election, expresses his willingness to support Mr Carncross’s Libel Bill. He considers that it i s necessary, and that the interests of the public will be better served under its provisions than at the present time. One of the witnesses at the inquest on the three little victims of the Lyttelton fire to-day gave somewhat startling evidence. He had been a nSfehbour of Mrs Day, mother of the burned children, for two years, and stated that she was in the habit of leaving the children alone both night and day. He never knew her to lock the door. - She would leave them for hours. . Sometimes he had heard the children crying and screaming at night during their mother’s absence. He had known her to come home as late as eleven o’clock. His wife had gone in to the children when they were screaming. On only one occasion was the mother there. “I told her once or twice,” said the witness, “that I would speak to the police. I have seen the children playing with matches in the day time. I did not speak to the police, but said it to frighten her.” The jury found a verdict, after a brief consultation, “That the deceased mot their deaths by burning in a house which was set on fire, but how there was no evidence to show,” and added the following rider, “The jury are of opinion that leaving children under such circumstances as those disclosed in the evidence is a most reprehensible practice.”