"OUTRAGEOUS PRICES"

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 35, 5 November 1918, Page 7

"OUTRAGEOUS PRICES"

. PROTEST MEETING COST OF LIVING PROBLEM GRAVE DISCONTENT ALLEGED' There was a good attendance at tho cost of living meeting in, the Town Hall last evening. The' .Mayor (Mr- '. I', Luke) presided. Tho Mayor said that lie was pleased lo see so liianv people present in spile of the bad weather and the disinclination of the. people to do other than celebrate the good war news. Early in the war ho had advocated Government control of food supplies; that tho Government should keep the prices down, and any loss on bread, meats, butter, etc., should bo repaid out of the Consolidated i'nnd. He would have preferred ,a Food Controller to a Board of Trade, but he was informed that the Board had controlled (he prices of 57 items of groceries and had secured sugar at a low rote. Hie increase in the cost of living was lower in New Zealand than in any other country. Official figures were-.- , Per cent. Austria 211 Norway . i)™ United Kingdom lO; " 1 Sweden ; " . Holland f, United States •;•• « •Canada ' *J Australia -? New Zealand - ( ' -'■* The Mavor mentioned the resolution which was'"to lie moved, and ho was asked if he would accept an amendment. Ho. said he would not. •'. Ono of the audience: You can with tho consent of tho mover. .' Another: Of course, you can. Tlie Mayor: No, yon will not. No one will move an amendment. ( Mr. W. M'Arley moved :- Th.at this, meeting of citizens ' directs the- attention of the, Government to the grave discontent among ' the working people as a result ot the • outrageous prices of food; clothing, arid rent; that (he Government be called upon to introduce such legis' lation as will cope with tho situation; and that (he question be made Hie first urgent business of the session.

Standard of Living Reduced. Mr. M'Arley' said that the Labour bodies-had gone info tho question.because the Government had not-dealt satisiaetorily willi it. Since i war broke out'the standard of living bad been stead'J nduccd, and if the rale of reduclioi w.,» maintained tho people would so on J) u dire straits. ■ Consistent, with, the,!eioiin Government there was high cost ot hung, hi Queensland the Government had kept down the price * food. -(ApplaMoJ Meat there was 4d, .per lb. dieopetlnn meat was in New Mand, and^ ,cl tl o Stale reaped a benefit of "o" its meat operations. ■ There the G-mein-. nient also controlled the pricei ot hsl. The cost: of living in Australia had men 31 per cent, and in iSew Zealand W per cent, according to the /er Statistician. The. farmers of .Kew Zenland had been assisted in various «>» by the State; but now they *eroabsolutely bleeding tho people who want food. And the Government.had gagged the people to prevent them from talking about- it. (Applause.) , Mr C. H. Chapman seconded the resolution. Ho said that the meeting was the outcome of nn investigation b . M bour bodies. Ho was glad,, to M many Voineii present, because tlucost ol living was vrry largely a woman s question. The reply of tho Board of Trade to the Labour' statements seemed to bo an apology for the poor merchants ot Aew Zealand. Tho Board said that tho grocery trade in "Wellington was. conducted on'compotitiva Hue?,, but that was incorrect. Was it not a fact'that Wellington merchant, "Vnet fortnightly to compare notes of .stocks and soe how they could put things up-a little more? ihe-mer-chants were 100 wise to have an organisation, that tho Government could get hold of; and perhaps the Government did not want to get hold of it. (Hear, hear.)

Profits Too Great. . % Tho Government were morp coucerned for thofc who; were busy squeezing the peoplo than tor those who' were, being squeezed. (Applause.) ■• The Board pf Trade did not deny that-300 and 400 per cent, profit was being charged on some lines'.of■ drapery. Kent was a serious, question in Wellington, but it could have been, made less serious had the Wellington City' Council"and tho Wellington Harbour Board' erected dwellings to aceoimnodalo their workers. The present Parliament evidently considered itself tho bast set of men to solve a country's problems as it prolonged its own life. Why .did it not solve -those problems? If it could it acted' dishonestly in not daiiiff so'. If it could, not, it acted dishonestly'in not making room for men who,'" in the opinion of the people, were capable of doing'hotter. To properly adjust ■'mntters- more tlianjunere reduction of' price?, was needed, 'the present profits made worn excessive.. Por every £i given in wages the employer (on an average)/made JI-5 profit: 'J'lio Mayor had said 'that when wages were increased thcro must necessarily, bo u rise in the cost of living. That was a fallacy.' A builder in Christclmrch stated recently that material had increased by 173 je'r cent, and wages. by 10 per ' cent. Yet when tho worker got another Js. a day he was blamed lor all the increase. Take the dairy industry. Tile total value of the i products was ..£7,521,904. The wages paid totalled and the profits made wore .£1,110,037. Every time a worker in the industry received JX in wages he had tho pleasure of knowing that the employer had made £i. It was to (the vast dispropbrtion of wages to profits that he traced the trouble. The veal, reason-for the trouble was that far I too much was takon in the way of prohta.How were they going to settle the problem t rhey wero referring it to tho Government to settle. Unless the Government did better than it had done in the. past the people could not expect a solution from that quarter. The memory of recent by-elections might help the* Government to endeavour to do sometJimg. It was the discontent of (ho pcolems by the Government that/brought aoout.the elect on of Mr. Fraser lor n-^!,JL ?n nM ontrn, M n,,d Mr ' Smilh f ° r laianaki. Hie problem was serious, and •if a remedy was not forthcoming Labour ormt.ons at least would take the law info theiv own hands. (Applause.) the Mayor: I want to make it very Plain that as Mayor nf the citv I am "ot going to S it here and hear a statement made that any individual is, or any croup of people are, going to take the law into their own hands.

' Is There a Merchants' Association. p J!l \ J f-, J -, Keardon dealt with tho ■Board ■otlrnde's reply to the Trades and' Labour Council s statements. The board said that the Merchants' Association did not exist The answer was that the board had its blind eyo to the telescope. As to a list of articles and prices given by tho board,, some of the things were not procurable at any price and at least twenty-two were not procurable at tho prices on the board's list. The board had proved nothing except that it was now an apologist for high prices. When it was set up it was recognised by some as a buffer to protect the • Government from the people. Jt had gone one step further and become an apologist for the Merchants' Association, which it said did not exist. The/question was, who approached tho Board of Trade when prices were increased. If tho board could answer that it might bo seen whether there was a merchants' association or not. (Applause.) It was possible for the Government,, if it chose', to considerably improvo tho lot of the working people of New Zealand. Meat prices were inslruclive. The best ox beef wa.s purchased by the Government for 5(1. per lb., whereas the people here paid Js. iA. The people required an opportunity tii express an opinion on these matters. (Applause.)

Mr. W. Maddison also supported tho resolution.

The Mayor asked if any of the audience wished to say anything. One of the audience supported the resolution and suggested that the City Council should at once lake stops to erect artisans' dwellings to be let at the cost of construction.

"If wo want to deal .effectively with I ho cost of living we will call on tho Government to 'get out" was an opinion

expressed by nnother of the audience amidst applause. Some one asked: "Where are the Labour members to-night?" ■ The Mayor: Here is ono of them. (Laughter.) A voice: You won't get in again—don't you worry. The Mayor: Never mind, I have a lot of other useful work to do. The resolution was carried unanimously, and it was decided to convey it by deputation to the Government.