The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, OCT. 12, 1907. THE COST OF LIVING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2209, 12 October 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, OCT. 12, 1907. THE COST OF LIVING.

The news that the price of flour has again increased by £1 per ton will prove very unwelcome at many a home in iGisborne. The 41b loaf costs at he present time 8d to Bsd, and if any further increases should be made many families will bo compelled to restrict their consumption of what has been rightly .termed “the staff of life.” The position has undoubtedly become serious, and it is more than probable that if .Mr. Hogg, M.H.K. for Masterton, were to again bring forward his motion in Parliament for the abolition of the duty on flour —which was only lost a few weeks back by the narrow margin of one vote —i,t would be carried. The direct result of such action would not be to give cheap bread, but it would certainly reduce the cost by the amount of the x j resent duty, namely, £1 per ton, and to this measure of relief the people aro fully entitled. .Mr. Hogg’s motion was defeated on the grounds that to remove the duty on flour would bo to prevent our farmers from growing the cereal, as they cannot compelo with Australian wheat-growers on even terms. There may he something in this contention, though it must ho remembered that even with the protection already existent N.Z. farmers have grown less wheat each year, so that just now, when there is a scarcity all over the world, wo have barely enough in tlio country to supply our own requirements. As a matter of fact, sheep-rearing and dairying have proved so profitable in recent years that cereal-growing lias been to a largo extent neglected, and many farmers in the South have continued to crop only to give the soil a needed cliango from grazing. However, even though it be considered judicious to ensure our farmers receiving a remunerative figure for their wheat, there is no reason for imposing famine prices on the consumer, and when the price of flour reaches its present position the public have a right to ask for a temporary remission of duty.

A deputation of laborers which waited on the Harbor Board at its last meeting with a petition that

their remuneration should be increased stated that their average wages for some time past had not been more than £2 os per week, and it is safe to say that there are many families in Gisborne at the present time which have to subsist—it can scarcely be called “living”—on less than £2 10s per week. When it is remembered that the prices of tlio necessaries of life are, taken as a whole, probably higher here than they aro in any other part of the Dominion, it will be recognised that for a large section of the working classes life becomes one long bitter struggle to make both ends meet. To the head of such a family it is little satisfaction that frozen meat and lamb are bringing high prices on the Ixmdon market, or that greasy merino is in strong demand. All lie knowjs is that in the £n.e-t sheep

country in the would his meat bill is

heavy and clothing dear, and .that tho important item of rent is constantly on the up-grade, so that he is forced to live in small, insanitary dwellings that are little better than hovels. To such it is little satisfaction that our prosperous country is increasing its exports yearly, andthat as tho result of wheat rising from 3s to 5s per lnYsliol in a few months a number of South Island fanners, or millers, or grain-dealers,

have made little fortunes. In other words, tho consumer, and particularly that section which works tor small wages, must • receive consideration, and in view of tho most recent developments the Government should certainly reconsider tho question of the flour duty. It lias becomo customary in recent years to blame the N.Z. Flour AliUors’ Association whenever the price of flour is raised, but, whatever tho past sins of that organisation, it cannot be blamed in tho present instance. The cost of flour, £l2 5s in Dunedin and about £l3 in Gisborne,, is not at all unreasonable with wheat at 5s iper bushel, and the responsibility for the present high price must bo looked for olsewhere. The reason, of course, is that owing to the increased demand from China and Japan for wheat, and the-poor crops in Can-ftda, the United States, Russia, and India, the world’s supply is short. The fear of another drought in Australia has also had a hardening effect on tho market.

It is particularly, unfortunate, therefore, that'tho dry season in the wheat-growing districts of the South

Island should have restricted our own crops during last season, making us to some extent dependent upon an abnormally liigli outside market. Under these special circumstances, therefore, there is every reason why N.Z. consumers should not be sub-

jected to further hardship than is necessary. AA’lien potatoes were at their highest last year many families economised by omitting this important article from their diet, and devoting more attention to rice and bread. Just now, with both bread and potatoes dear—-the latter are quoted at £7 10s per ton—the choice is still further restricted. Tho time is certainly ripe for legislative action.