Star.
London, England, 1824-09-08 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE:

ANCASTER, SEPTEMBER 3.
CLIFTON C. ALEXANDER.
Mr. ATTORNEY-GENERAL stated the nature of the
action, which involved, said the Learned Counsel, an
important question of right, and which was brought by
the Lord of the Manor of Lytham against the defen-
dant for a trespass in not paying certain ftes due for
anchorage, &c.
The defendant pleaded a justification to all the pleas
(except the two last), and contended for a right of an-
chorage, and to moor at his will And pleasure.—After
numerous witnesses had been called,
Mr. WILLIAMS addressed the Court, and said that it
was of great importance to the public. and contended
that it was a right vested in the King for the benefit of
the county, and that ships had a right of anchorage in
stress of weather in any navigable river.
The Learned JUDGE, in his charge to the Jury, said,
this was an action brought by the plaintiff, as Lord of
the Manor of Lytham; against the defendant, to recover
damages for an alleged trespass. The defendant had
claimed a right to load and unload his vessel without
any fee being due to the plaintiff as Lord of the Manor,
which the plaintiff had denied; and the question for the
Jury to decide was, had Mr. Clifton a claim on every
ship that anchored on the river ltibble at high and low
water or not, and whether the sum, if due, was 4d. or
Is.? It was quite clear that every ship in his Majesty's
service had a right of entering into any navigable river
in stress of weather, and which was an undoubted pre-
rogative of the Crown. The earliest payment it offered
was in 1698, and there hadbeen a grant by his laze Ma-
jesty down to 1803.
The Jury brought in a verdict for the plaintiff—
Damages Is. which subjects vessels which moor,. ship
cargoes, or discharge them, to the payment of a duty, but
frees vessels merely anchoring from stress of weather.
BRISTOL, SEPTEMBER 6.
NOW V. MUCH.
This action, which was brought for the re:overy of
the sum of El 4 ss. afforded, by reason of the names of
the parties, a fine opportunity to Mr. Serjeant PELL to
exercise his facetiousness. He assured his Lordship
and the Jury how much he lamented at being obliged
to occupy their time with this cause, bat how could his
client avoid it, when Much depended upon the verdict
of the Jury, and would, in consequence, not pay him
before that was obtained. He had assured them how
'he regretted bringing this cause before them, which he
had done with reference to a due consideration for
the valuable time of the Court, as concisely as possible ;
but they must not on that account think !hey had al-
ready disposed of it, for much remained behind. He
hoped, however, at all events they would, by their ver-
dict that day for the plaintiff, shew that they had
done Much.
Mrs. How, a relation of the plaintiff, proved that she
called upon the defendant Much for the amount of the
plaintiff's bill, who told her to go to Mr. Barry for it,
into whose hands he had paid it. The witness refused
to do this, upon which the defendant said she might
either go to Barry or go to hell.
" And you declined going to either, I suppose?"—" I did."—(A
laugh).—Verdict for the plaintiff.-barrages £l4 ss.

This publication is calculated to afford too much in-
struction to be allowed to pass without a farther ex-
tract. —Let us return with the author to London. He
now engaged with a Mr —, a baker, in St. John's-street,
Clerkenss ell. This seems to have been the only master
with whom he ever worked who did not deserve an
hour's hanging. " Perhaps,' " said he, " ' you are sur-
Fised, James, that I do not defraud my customers of,
I.le tat melted in their baked dishes, nor suffer my man
to cut their lean meat. It was what my master before
rue would not permit, and I shall follow his example.'
In all his other dealings he was just and upright. My
master had an aversion to the serving either a doctor, a
lawyer, or a butcher. I asked him his reasons for it?
lle answered, dames, I make it a regular rule to exa-
mine the bills of those I deal with, and I find upon a
comparison the balance is always in favour of those
men. lIA orked for Mr. -- until he retired from the-
trade, the end of 1802, and remained with his successor
till he tailed and became a bankrupt, in 1803. I was
then married, and found employ at a Mr. —, Gray's
Inn-lane, Holborn, who used potatoes in his bread,
which was now become an universal practice in the trade.
" The master-bakers were sworn before the Lord

Mayor not to adulterate the bread, under a heavy pe-
nalty on conviction, who compelled them once a week
to send, sealed up to his Lordship, the number of sacks
"of flour bought respectively by each baker, the vender's
name, and price given, and this to be at the Mansion-
House on Saturday, before eleven o'clock in the fore-
noon; and the millers also, in like manner, the number
of sacks sold, to whom, and at what price.
" The miller and baker, however, soon understood
Bach other, and after the average of the market was
taken, they agreed upon a drawback on each sack be-
tween buyer and seller, which is the cause of the quar-
tern loaf being three farthings more than the real ave-
rage of the market. This is certainly an evasion of the
law, and a specimen to prove that human laws ate in-
competent to prevent determined iniquities. Our oven
held fourteen bushels of bread, which made two hun-
dred and twenty-four quartern loaves; and our custom
was to use three kinds of flour, varying in price as much
as ten shillings on the sack, with which we made the
best bread. We made use of ninety-five pounds of po-
tatoes. The quantity of yeast depended on its thicken-
ing quality, with half a bushel of the best flour. The
pc tatoes, when washed, are put into :wo wrought-iron
pots, with lids that fit close, and sufficient water to
cover the bottoms ofthe pots, which ate put into the oven,
where they remain one hour and a half, or more, ac-
cording to the oven's heat; when they are sufficiently
done, a large tub, called the seasoning-tub, receives
them, and a smaller tub placed over them, which tub
is called a strainer, and has a copper bottom with holes
pierced like a strainer or cullender. The potatoes are
mashed or bruised with a piece of wood like a mallet,
tl:e heavier the better, which is worked until the whole
of the potatoes pass through the cullender, %%bids may
be performed by the mallet and the man's hands in two
minutes. After which a certain quantity of water, hot
• or cold, according to the temperature of the weather
and the heat of the bakehouse, with about half a bushel
of the finest flour, with yeast according to its thickness
and quality, are put into the seasoning-tub, which,
when perfectly mixed, the fermentation begins, which
rises, if the yeast be good, after an elapse of five mi-
nutes, one inch er minute, forming a kind of cauli-
flower, until the fermentation ceases, when it falls, leav-
ing the composition mark round the tub. This process
lasts about half an hour, when it is emptied into the
baker's trough with more water, and' mixed with a
bushel and a half more of good flour, so as to make the
mixture into a kind of soft dough ; it is then called
quarter sponge. The regular period for this quarter
sponge to be in fermentation is an hour and a half, and
never to exceed two hours, when the composition falls,
like as in the first fermentation: when as much water
more as first used in the incipient fermentation and
quarter sponge is added, with a pound of salt, and as
much flour more as to make slack dough, which is
called half sponge. This fermentation is slow in its
progress, it requiring full six hours before it is fit to
mix into dough. When ready it must be mixed with
an equal quantity of water, as in the other processes,
its temperature being governed by circumstances, and
according to the appearance of the sponge, to which is
added ten pounds of salt and twenty-tour ounces of
alum. But if the flour is prime, a less quantity of the
above ingredients may be used, and according to its
badness a greater quantity must be added. The dough
is finished by the worst flour, and only one master I
served used the best flour in finishing: but this was only
on Saturday, and his reason was that the walking
people and tradesmen made their visits on Sunday, and
the Sunday bread being older than the bread of any
other day, it was more requisite; and as the chief con-
versation turns, in visiting parties, about the quality of
the bread, he observed, he gnt many new customers by
snaking better lat ead than usual for Sunday consumption."
On one occasion he assisted a contract baker in mix-
ing the 'composition employed for bread with which the
militai y were supplied in a certain districr.--t It con-
sisted of seconds, middlings, sharps, tailings, blues,
oats, beans, peas, barley, rye, car avanseras, and old
condemned ships' stores, decayed and dressed through
a.machine, sea-water being substituted for salt. The
bakery was newly beilt, and conveniently situated, close
to a small arm of the sea,-which supplied us with sea-
water instead of salt.
4g Again allow me to revert to the subject of using sea-
water instead of salt. The contractor, in forming his ten-
der, is allowed by Government for the use of salt, and
Government has a right to calculate that this item
will revert to the State by the consumption of it in
bread ; but here are twenty thousand men, who are sup-
posed at least to consume three hundred and thirty-six
pounds of salt daily, and which would have cost the
contractor five pounds sterling a day, using bread with-
out a grain of salt in it !—This juggle, this fraud on the
Revenue, I want terms to express my opinion of."
It appears from the statements of this honest man,
that the contracts for bread generally pass through
three hands at least (which is quite contrary to law).
He gives the following table of the deductions on pro-
fits on each loaf to the various contractors :
Price stipulated Sid.
First contractor's profit •
7i

First sub-coatFaCtOt

b ..
~
•A .." 7 .' 'G
"lib 111 ilei ...- ..._-• li
1''.....cs •f .---/- cy-,Art-f: .•
_ .4. ts. ~.- s -- • •
...
-

Tricks of Bakers Unmasked.
(Extract concluded from the STA& of yesterday).