Sir, – The mention in Donal Carlin's letter (October 20th) of the plastic wrapping around a packet of biscuits in Japan reminds me of the time in the 1940s and 1950s when local shops sold loose broken biscuits from Jacob's. These were scooped from a large tin by the shopkeeper and weighed in a brass balance scales with weights on the other side. The price was an old thruppence for a quarter pound, a price well within the pocket-money range of us schoolboys. After weighing, the broken biscuits were emptied into a small brown paper bag which we took out in the street, eagerly hoping that the random selection of biscuits might contain a few chocolate ones. – Yours, etc.
TONY CORCORAN,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.