WAR INCREASES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2972, 9 January 1917, Page 6

WAR INCREASES

W COST OF LIVING War increases in rotail prices are shown iu figures prepared by tho Government Statistician and published iu tho official "Monthly Abstract of Sta- > tistics." Retail prices of groceries, dairy produce, and meat, reported in November, IUI6, aro stated to have increased by 21.28 per cent, in Auckland, 20.87 per cent, in Wellington, • s 24.21 per cent, in Christchurch, and j'_ 22.91 per cent, in Dunedin. 'i'lioso perj contages, it should ho understood, are : not comparable as between one city .j and another. The cost of living in the . lour centres varied in July, 1914, and ." it is still lower in Chrislchurcli, for ',' example than in Wellington, though the I southern city shows tho higher per--0 centage increase. This point has boeii : overlooked iu some comments upon the i| ionics. A centre whero living was ■ t particularly cheap in July, 1914, is likely to have a high percentage of increase, though the cost of l'ving tliere }' may still bo relatively moderate. The most interesting feature of the figures is the comparison of tho pur--1 chasing power of money in tho various " centres. The basis of tho comparison " is the quantity of groceries, dairy pro- '? dnce and meat that could have been bought with a sovereign at tho aver- " ago prices of tho years 1009-13. The ™ prices aro taken from figures compiled by the Labour Department and published in" tho "Labour Journal.". It appears thaf. in the September quartei h of 1916 the money required to buy s tho goods that would have cost 20s. '" during tho period 1909-13 was 265. 11 OJd. in Auckland, 265. 03d. in UVell--0 ington, 245. lljd. in Christchurch, and 8 245. 9Jd- i" Dunedin. Tho average for v tho four centres was 255. s}d. c Tho figures may he presented in auli other way. 'If tho sovereign, as roprcs sented by tho'foodstuffs it would buy, o was worth 20s. in- the period 1909-13, • its present value for the purchase jof li the same commodities is roughly ]ss. r 6d. The depreciation is most marked 0 in the case of meat. The rotail buyer s must now pay 20s. for tho meat that 1 would liavo cost Ms. M. during the b pre-war period. The figures, it may - bo remarked, cannot bo taken as abso--1 lutely accurate for all purposes. Prices l vary' not merely from toin to town, 1 but from street to street in tho samo ton , ;], and the officials have to strike i averages and content themselves with u what they believe io bo aproximate re- ' sulk ,, __________