Correspondence.

Wanganui Herald, Volume III, Issue 527, 9 February 1869, Page 2

Correspondence.

THE PRICE OF BREAD !

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING HERALD

Wanganui, Feb. 9, 1869.. Str, —Good flour can now be obtained for £15 a ton —a short time since It was £28 a ton. The 2lb loaf (short weight) is 6d, and was only 6d when flour was at the high price. Times are very hard, and the poor man should have the benefit of ;my reduction in the price of flour. Some baker should lead the way in a reduction.—Yours, &c. Householder.

A correspondent of the Morning Post, referring- to the late Baron J. de Rothschild, says :—" He was bown amongst us as a man who occupied every day of his life in business : he was never away from the bank. That round gray head, and those large round eyes, were familiar to every Parisian who had anything- to do with commerce, and scarecely a foreigner of any mark passed through Paris for many years past without seeing- Baron James de Rothschild. He was particularly known to the aristocrac}'- of England, and on very intimate terms with many of them. Baron Rothschild was known amongst us, too, for his many charitable acts, and as a purchaser of pic ■ tures and every discription of antiquities. His life was scarcely a happy one, unless the absorbing-love of money can compensate for every other pleasure. Up to a very late date he began his day by ringing for a gentleman to come into his room and read the English newspapers whilst dressing and being shaved. He would have the political and financial facts told him in as few words as possible. Another gentleman informed him of anything important in the French or German papers. From the moment he left his room," his sons, and some of the clerks of departments in the bank, were constantly about him asking questions and receiving orders. Soon after the Bourse ° had commenced, the brokers' clerks began to arrive with quotations, which the Baron looked at, and often gave orders to buy or sell, especially Italian stock, in which the house "has a great interest. All sorts of people were calling all day long, and despatches and letters had to be referred to the chief. There was no repose for that—figures, money ; more figures, more money. At table he knew not what he wbs eating, and the servant sometimes reminded the Baron that he had not taken wine or tasted something before him. He could scarcely ever have seen a play or enjoyed music: no doubt his dreams were all about money. llis art-treasures he knew he possessed, but had no time to contemplate. With all his wealth he would calculate trifles much more keenly than poor men: money has its peculiar diseases as : well as poverty. The Baron used to correspond with the London house in Hebrew Like other celebrated members of this remarkable family, he could work out financial calculations without pen and paper, and arrived at conclusions with wonderful rapidity."