In November of 1916 Mr Gerrard was laid aside for a number of weeks by a severe illness, from which, fortunately, he recovered after a time. With the exception of one short interval, he was able to carry out his duties until the beginning of November 1918, when he was again laid aside with an illness so severe in its nature that ultimately he was informed by his medical adviser that he would have to give up all thought of public work for the future. The last regular meeting of the committee at which he was able to be in attendance was that held on 10th October 1918. A NATURAL WORKING DAY—BY ORDER. Several years before the outbreak of war the directors of the Baking Society made a determined effort to institute a natural working day for bakers, but were unsuccessful, as a natural working day meant the use of bread which was cold before it reached the shops, and this the members of the stores refused to accept. In March of 1917, however, the Government, impelled by the exigencies of war, were able to do, practically with the stroke of a pen, what the unaided efforts of the Baking Society had failed to do. This Order of the Food Controller decreed that bread must be at least twelve hours old before it was sold in the shops. It is quite likely that those who devised the Order did not know and did not desire to know how their proposals were going to affect those engaged in the trade. The bakers were faced with the necessity of rearranging their methods at a moment’s notice. They had to rearrange the working day, and also to find storage accommodation overnight for their total day’s output, and on Friday nights for almost double that quantity. One good result of the Order was, as has already been mentioned, that the working bakers at last obtained a natural working day, for their hours of work were fixed to begin at 8 a.m. and to end at 4.30 p.m. The storage difficulty was one which was more difficult to overcome. At M‘Neil Street storage accommodation had to be found for 84,000 2–lb. loaves on ordinary weekdays and for 156,000 on Fridays. This meant the fitting up of every available space with racks and trays in which to place the bread, and a very serious addition to the amount of labour necessary. On the other hand it meant that there would be a considerable saving on delivery charges, as societies were able to take in larger quantities in the mornings, and so minimise the duplication of deliveries. The difficulties were all overcome, and, in a very short time, the delivery side of the business was working as smoothly as the attenuated state of the delivery staff could be expected to permit. ENTERTAINING SOLDIERS.