CHEAP FOOD

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 62, Issue 4423, 9 May 1941, Page 6

CHEAP FOOD

THE GOOD OLD DAYS. The average wage paid to labourers in London during the fifteenth century was fivepence a day. They were able to sustain life on this low wage because food was cheap. The price of beef was fixed by law at id per lb, and of mutton at 2d. These prices seem very low, but butchers were able to make a profit, for fat oxen were sometimes sold at £1 6s Bd, fat calves and sheep at 3s 4d, and lamb at 12d. Eggs were usually sold at ten for a penny, but in times of scarcity they rose as high as three for 2d. Fat capons could be bought for 6d each, and the price of cheese was lid per lb. Butter was sold by measure in a semi-liquid condition during the fourteenth century at lid per pint, but during the fifteenth century it was sold by weight at Boz for id in summer and 6oz for id in winter. By the end of the sixteenth century butter had risen to 3d per lb, and in time of scarcity rose to 7d. Oysters were popular. even m the middle ages, and were sold at 4d a bushel, but by the seventeenth century their reputation had spread to such an extent that an export trade had grown up, and, the price in London rose to 2s a bushel—an extravagant price, which caused grave concern in the highest circles. A Royal decree was issued forbidding the export of oysters, and the Admiralty was empowered to arrest any foreign vessel taking oysters out of the country.