HC Deb 22 June 1815 vol 31 c943
Mr. Frankland Lewis

rose to call the attention of the House to the Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the present state of the laws connected with the assize of bread, and said that it was his intention to conclude by moving for leave to bring in a Bill to repeal those laws, so far as they affected the assize of bread in London, find ten miles round. It was the opinion of the Committee, who had most attentively and most laboriously examined the subject, that the operation of the Assize laws tended rather to increase than diminish the price of bread. That such must be their effect, indeed, might be proved either by comparing the price of bread with the price of wheat, by comparing its price in those places where the assize prevailed, with what it was where no assize existed, or considering what must be the consequences from the construction and operation of the law. The hon. member, after showing, by a variety of facts, the troth of this effect, moved, "That leave be given to bring in a Bill to repeal the Laws relating to the Assize of Bread, in the city of London, and within ten miles of the Royal Exchange."—Leave was accordingly given.