The Prime Minister announced on Monday that the bread subsidy
was costing the Exchequer ninety millions a year, and must be reduced by half. The wholesale price of flour would be raised next week by 19s. 3d. a sack, and the millers would be instructed to produce a slightly coarser flour. To prevent the bakers from making additional profit on their existing stocks, the retail price of flour and bread would remain unaltered till April 12th. Mr. Lloyd George declined to predict the new price of bread. It is thought that the price may rise from 91d. to lid., or even a shilling—the price ruling in 1917 when the late Lord Rhondda introduced the bread subsidy. Until the American exchange becomes normal, our bread must cost us more. The price should fall as our debts in America are paid, and as our manufactured exports to America increase.
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