THE RISE IN PRICES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 280, 15 August 1918, Page 6

THE RISE IN PRICES

' Sir, —I eee by to-day's Dominion that another burden is to be added to the camel's load, in the shape of another rise of .£3 per ton in oatmeal, and that the farmers are not satisfied with the present ■price of ss. per bushel for mate, but are demanding more. By. the same paper 1 see the value of the sp/ereign hns fallen, to 13s. 6d., and is still on the downgrade, eo that should the war continueIon" enough there is no reason to doubt its "ultimate disappearance. In the faceof this continual "hold up" and stand and deliver" attitude on tJie part of'the fnrraers and merchants oi this country, and the recent attitude of the Government, it is interesting to" read another artioic in your paper, ro the coming projects for the meat, trade. Every consideration" must be given to farmers and graziers, and the Government may l)e relied on to "use every exertion on their behalf. It may' indeed. Helpless apparently as the Government is to stay the-rising tide of the cost of living it shows no backwardness here. Even if the handful of people who stand for tho exploiting o'iass are the only ones who connt, and the wage-earners who represent 09 per cent, of the people arc a negligible factor, still, in view of the inevitable election which ennnot be much longer postponed, one would have thought some effort would have been made to cope with the rise in prices. What is the "In-Efflciency Board" doing? It seems to fix a price which no one troubles alxwt. Anyway, grouching is no .good. Aren't we going to have an aero'plane service in New Zealand, so why worry if the kiddies have to go liuuevy or ili-cladP—l am, etc., '• X.