mend fhould have the good fortune of meeting with the approbation of parliament, they flatter themselves that fuch expenfes, inftead of being great and undefined, would be fo moderate, and in general fo capable of being eftimated, that, in fo far as regards large enclofures, the principal objection to the prefent fyftem would be done away, and a

great encouragement would be given to improvement,

For the farther information of the houfe, upon the several matters be fore fuggefted, your committee have thought proper to annex to their report, by way of appendix, the evidence taken by them, in fo far as refpects the particular points above alluded to.

Table

Account of Fees received in the Iloufe of Commons on Bills of Enclofure, for Fourteen Years,. ending 1799.

Report of the Committee of the House of Commons refpecting Bread, Corn, &c. &c.

The committee appointed to confider of means for rendering more effectual the provifions of an act, made in the thirteenth year of the reign of his prefent Majefty, intituled, "An Act for better regula ting the Affize and making of Bread;" and who were inftructed to confider of the moft effectual means of remedying any inconveniences which may arife from the deficiency of the laft crop of grain; and empowered to report their proceedings, from time to time, to the house: Have proceeded, in pursuance of the orders of the house, to confider of the provisions of the faid a&; and are decidedly of opinion, that the act in its prefent ftate is completely ineffectual for the purposes for which it was intended; that the regulations contained in it are in

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many respects defective; and that the execution of it would be totally incompatible with the prefent mode of letting the affize of bread by law, and would answer no object, unless, at the time when bakers are prohi bited from making, according to the demand of their customers, different kinds of bread, millers fhould be prohibited from manufacturing dif ferent forts of flour.

Your committee proceeded next to confider, how far it might be proper to recommend to the house to adopt fuch farther regulations and restrictions; and as they underftood a prejudice exifted in fome parts of the country against any coarler fort of bread than that which is at prefent known by the name of the Fine Household Bread," on the ground that the former was lefs wholesome and nutritious than the latter, they thought it important to obtain the opinions of tome eminent and refpectable physicians on

this point. The refult of their evidence appears to be, that although a change of any fort of food, which forms to great a part of the fuftenance of man, might, for a time, affect fome conftitutions, that as Soon as perfons were habituated to it, the ftandard wheaten bread, or even bread of a coarfer fort, would be equally wholesome with the fine wheaten bread which is now generally used in the metropolis; but that in their opinion, the fine wheaten bread would go farther with perfons who have no other food, than the fame quantity of bread of a coarser lort.

Your committee were next defirous of afcertaining, whether a ftandard bread was likely to be acceptable to the people of this metropolis; they have examined for this purpofe feveral confiderable bakers, who agree in ftating, that fcarcely any bread is confumed in the metropolis but that which is made from the fine wheaten flour; that attempts have been formerly made in times of fcarcity to introduce a coarfer fpecies of bread into ufe, but without fuccefs; and that in their opinion, the high price of bread would be confidered, by the lower claffes of people, as a small evil, when compared with any measures which would have the effect of compelling them to confume a bread to which they have not been, accustomed.

Your committee then proceeded to inquire, whether a measure, which compelled the millers to manufacture only one fort of flour, would be likely to increase the quantity of fuftenance for man. It has been stated to your committee, that, according to the mode of maDufacturing flour for London and its

neighbourhood, a bufhel of wheat, weighing fixty pounds, produced forty-leven pounds of flour, of all defcriptions, which were applied in various ways directly to the fuftenance of man; that about one pound was the wafte in grinding, and the remaining twelve pounds confifted of bran and pollards, which were made ufe of for feeding poultry, fwine, and cattle. It has, however, been fuggefted, that if only one fort of flour was permitted to be made, and a different mode of dreffing it was adopted, fo as to leave in it the finer pollards, fiftytwo pounds of flour might be extracted from a bushel of wheat, of the before-mentioned weight, inftead of forty-feven pounds; that this proportion of the wheat would afford a wholesome and nutritious food, and would add to the quantity, for the fuftenance of man, in places where the fine household bread is now used, five pounds on every bufhel, or fomewhat more than one ninth. But as this faving is computed on a finer wheat, and of greater weight per bufhel than the average of the laft crop may produce, and can only apply to thofe places which have been ftated, and as a coarfer bread is actually in ufe in many parts of the country, the faving on the whole confumption would, according to this calcula tion, be very confiderably reduced.

Your committee have confidered how far other circumftances might operate, or the faving likely to be made of flour by adopting this propofition: they beg leave in the first place to obferve, that if the phyficians are well founded in their opi nion, that bread of a coarfer quality will not go equally far with the fine wheaten bread, an increased con

fumption