21 FEBRUARY 1925, Page 15

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sui.,—As one who has

been in the thick of the fight, in company with that veteran protagonist of bread and flour reform, to which she has devoted her life, Miss May Yates, from the days of the Standard Bread campaign, and indeed earlier, I have followed with great interest the correspondence in your columns. May I revert to one aspect of the problem raised by you, viz., the difficulty, as matters stand, of obtaining wholemeal bread and flour ? This obstacle to progress was emphasised in conversation by a Scottish Medical Officer of Health, and is frequently brought to our notice. In this connexion a correspondent hits the nail on the head. " The bakers," she writes, " need influencing So many only bake wholemeal to order, and the working people will not bother to do that. They should be obliged at least to offer both sorts." There is much to be said for going further and adopting the suggestion of our Vice-Chairman, Sir Harry Baldwin,

lately endorsed by Professor Leonard Hill, of a tax upon white bread and flour. Both would then come to be recog- nized as what they are and used to be—luxuries. Failing that, the impoverished loaf might be sold as " fancy " bread, as wholemeal too often is. I shall be happy to send par- ticulars of literature on the subject and containing various recipes for home baking. It should, moreover, be remem- bered that there is wholemeal and wholemeal.--I am, Sir, &c., CHARLES E. HECuT,

Hon. Sec., Food Education Society. 3.29 Vauxhall Bridge Road, S.W. 1.