THE COST OF LIVING

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 33, 3 November 1920, Page 6

THE COST OF LIVING

STILL SOARING UPWARDS

INDEX NUMBERS FOR SEPTEMBER

Tho Minister of Internal Affaire having supplied to Mr. J. M'Combs (Lytteltonl the index numbers showing the rise in the cost of living during tho month of September, the. member yesterday passed , them on to a Dominion reporter. Each of the three food groups show an increase, the total increase for the month being fifteen points. The following table gives an indication of the present position :— Index Numbers for the Three Food Groups. Weighted average. Grocer- Dairy Groups ios. produce. Meat. I—3. 1914—July 1033 '1057 1127 1070 1920-Aug 2036 1716 1663 1831 1920—Sept. 2052 1745 1664 1849 The increase per cent, for the combined groups over July, 1914, is 72.50. Mr. M'Combs said that; the average incrcnso for the nuartor ended September would, of course, be lower, but as the-cost of living showed a very steady tondency to increase, ho considered it would bo unfair to base a cost-of-living bonus on anything less than the September month figure, because that represented the increase in the cost of living that tho workers would have to facq in the coming months, even if the cost of living did not increase month by month, as it showed every indication of doing. He observed that the increase in tho price of butter was not recorded in the Sepbmber figures, and should be allowed tor. If the Septombcr month figure, was used, and not tho quarterly or six-monthly nvora"o, tho allowanco was made ior butter prices, tho bonus increases should not be less, he said, than twenty per cent., as compared with tho February six-monthly average.