Even in the reign of Henry VIII. London and Bristol had bought a public store of corn in order to prevent scarcity, and in 1528 and 1549 the Privy Council had regulated the buying and selling of grain in order to lower the price but had failed to obtain much result[167]. Between 1569 and 1597 there were three seasons in which corn was exceptionally scarce, 1572, 1586, and 1594 to 1597. In each of these the Privy Council issued similar orders and their action became more vigorous and more successful as time went on. [167] See p. 51. The sudden rises in the price of corn were in a great measure caused by the narrowness of the area from which a supply could come. There were few means of rapid communication; the roads were bad and the supplies of grain available for a particular district might be in the hands of very few men. It was quite possible for the dealers of corn to prevent corn from coming to a market, to buy up the supplies already there and afterwards raise the price to an artificial height. This was considered unfair according to the commercial morality of the time, and when it was done in the case of a necessary of life it caused great hardship to the poor. In 1572 enquiries were made as to the price of corn in the Western counties and in Norfolk and Suffolk. The replies received show that it varied considerably even in adjacent counties. In Somerset best wheat sold for twenty shillings a quarter, in Dorset it fetched sixteen, it cost eighteen shillings in Norfolk, while in Suffolk it would be purchased for only fourteen[168]. The next year a commission was issued and the commissioners were empowered to order the farmers to bring corn to market in proportion to the amount they possessed[169]. [168] _Dom. State Papers, Queen Elizabeth._ Norfolk and Suffolk, July 31st, 1572, Vol. 89, 1. Norfolk. Suffolk. Wheat 18_s._ Wheat 14_s._ Rye 13_s._ 4_d._ Rye 12_s._ Barley 7_s._ 4_d._ Malt 8_s._ 8_d._ Western Counties, Vol. 88, No. 52. Dorset. Somerset. Devon. Cornwall. Best wheat 16_s._ a quarter 20_s._ 26_s._ 8_d._ 48_s._ Seconds 13_s._ 4_d._ " 17_s._ 4_d._ 24_s._ 44_s._ Rye 10_s._ " 16_s._ 21_s._ 4_d._ 32_s._ Barley 6_s._ " 8_s._ 8_d._ 16_s._ 26_s._ 8_d._ Abundant--able to export. Sent to Devon, but no more to spare. It is difficult to compare the prices in Devon and Cornwall with the rest of the counties because the size of the bushel varied in Cornwall and was often twice as great as that used elsewhere; in Devon also the Winchester measures were not always used.