"COST 01 HIGH LIVING."

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1469, 18 June 1912, Page 4

"COST 01 HIGH LIVING."

VHVT \ MUJIM-KA MllwlU v l»

"I don't think the heading to the'.many; - : articles I see in the papers on the que*- ■■.' tion is quit? n'ght. They nil seem to .? ; talk of the hii>\\ cost of living," said a -A well-known "Wellington mercha.-it, t-ilk-ing about the Commission's deliberations down south. "I think it could be varied, . and at the same time it would be nearer .... the truth if you were to head it the Cost ■}', of high living. "I doubt very much," he continued, •■' "if the price of overy-d.iy commodities ', has increased in the past twenty years,..,/ and I am certain thai prices of_ nii>ii/:;: ; . necessities has decreased—coal, for iii•■'■:'.':'' stance, to name one indispensable pm-..!, duct. To 'inc. if. seems that the only',•■• commodities for human coiisumriion.'. -.'■ which have advanced are those for which:' 1 * there is 1 competition in oversea nnrko's/': —meat, dairy produce, etc.,—and it is fo'.mnon law in commercial eovismicaWJ that the producer m\^t ; s;il in the best $

■ "I will go 1 further, nivl say tint 1 d>>"" not think the tost of ln-in.'; ha* bt-ou mv-.JS very much affected by the ncncril ri.-Vf/ in vatios though fliat must he a f The chief caus-rs to 'mv mind. I n'iclifii'ij . snv to my own knowlcdw, .ire two. First v! and foremost we.cannot, cot the. vnvn to: < do tho samp amount of work or do it's-"*"'; well, though hours have bfo-ji' shortened and wfflß!? increaseoV--It is hiuli Hriiie t .; compared with what it. was a quarter ot'V. a century ago. You only ha ye to go to ..■ any of the old contractors to find -tli.it. ; ; out. The men will not work s.-v con•',?,' seientiously as they used to do, and con-. .-' seqiiently overythin; tiijc? longer t.i do -'■'■ and up goes the prion! The other chief'-"' cause of the increased cost of liviii"! has ' to do with the price of b.nd ru'.d vents. ; These have beyond all shadow of doubt ~-, beoii forced up by the Government in ,'.: order that it may collect land lax ~r , ." Hie higher amount. Wolliiijrtfln i; ridiculously over-valued at present. Am ' .land ascnt win teli you that—ami ail . (lie tinic the Government is taxing on "" iioUtious values. The City Council hm decided not to ask for a fresh valuation. . ■Why they have done so is beyond my comprehension." >