18 MARCH 1865, Page 3

Servants evil not eat jerked beef. It does not cost

enough for them. Neither does it for the Lord Mayor. On Wednesday last that functionary made a speech almost touching in its gastronomic simplicity. Some bad meat, said to be jerked, had been condemned, and though no evidence was given to prove that it was charqui, the Lord Mayor trusted that "he could give them a better .dinner than .eharqui in the Mansion House," and said necessity might reconcile people to anything, even to eating as people did among the Esqui- =aux. It was his duty to see that people were not nauseated. The notion in his Lordship's mind clearly was that beef fit to be eaten ought to be British rump-steak at 14d. per pound. Nobody has ever asserted that charqui was as good as the beef eaten at the Mansion House. The simple point is whether it is healthy food, because if it is, poor beef at 3d. a pound is a great deal more nutritious than none at all. Sir George Grey, too, has interfered very stupidly with a very important reform by stating on Thursday that he wanted to give it to convicts. If the people were wise, they would remember that convicts are always better fed than labourers ; but they are not wise, and the remark will only increase the popular prejudice.