ONLY “TOLERABLE”

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 75, 20 January 1947, Page 7

ONLY “TOLERABLE”

LIFE IN AMERICA

“Conditions here are tolerable, although the. cost of living is at least 50 per cent, above pre-war living,” states a letter received recently by a Toomaru Bay resident from a relative in America.

“Since price controls died a Congressional death, prices have risen tremendously. The greatest rise has been the meat and dairy products. Beef is 3/6 to 4/3 a pound and lamb is 2/8 (sterling, not dollars). Sugar is the only thing still rationed over here, but several items are very hard to get,” continues the writer. “Tapioca is impossible. We had no butter for ages, in fact, not until recently and now it’s such an appalling price, 3/6 a pound. It’s almost impossible to get margarine. Bananas, oils, shortening, refined flour, syrups—one has to remind one’s grocer and be in his favour to get any of these.

“Canned crab and shrimp are such appalling prices that most grocers will not stock them, as people refuse to buy them. There has been nothing much in the shops until recently, but it seems business was waiting for price controls to be taken off for as soon as they were the goods arrived on the market at prices few of us could afford to pay. In fact, prices are so high that we—the general public—refuse to buy. “By no means does every house have every modern convenience, as most Gls would have had you believe. But practically everyone does have a washing machine and an electric iron.

“Like you We get very annoyed at seeing so many advertisements for pineapple in the magazines. We don’t get it very often either. “The housing situation is extremely bad over here, although the Government is trying hard to ease matters, but the lumber shortage does not make things any easier. Rents are going sky high and some landlords have quite nice little rackets, charging ex-servicemen fantastic rents.”