The Chronicle, PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1911 THE COST OF LIVING.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 4 October 1911, Page 2

The Chronicle, PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1911 THE COST OF LIVING.

A decent discussion in the House of Representatives foreshadowed the appointment of a Royal Commission to eiKjuiro into the increased t<ost of living in Now Zealand. If such a commission docs its work thoroughly tiho result may prove astonishing to people w : ho assume, that the cost of living n..;!My lia.s increa.sod materially. .For various and varying rea•:ins. several sections of the people have .stated and reiterated this fictional fact of the increased cost of living until they and a great many other people have come to accept it a.s being actual. Vet it seems to us that the revor.se is the case, if the hig'h rental-, charged in the cities and in some of the towns be .set on one side; and ('!"•:> obvious remedy for this can be indicated without recourse to, any set of commissi(riier,s. This item of increased rent, it must be conceded, is one of the greatest expenditure-; which h;>.isn!::dders ha... to undertake in tlie.se days. A fiveronmeri hcii-o \vhicli would have hecu Vis (id weekly rental some twenty years ago is charged for at CI to CI '2s (id i.n those times, in such cities

a.s Wellington. it seems to us that if the would-be reformers would fo'-us their endeavours on securing uniformly ehca.per rents, by niea.n.'i <;f a limitation of city la.ud values, they would prove useful. H;it as matters now are, a great ninny of tbe.ni bay the moon with a!leiii'tions about :!:igli cost of living and by their parrot-liko persistence in the cry cause thinking men to grow petulant. Twenty-fin- .wars tigo, when a lab-urine; man's wages in -\>w Zealand weve d< to 7s per day. and a iia V--man's frcni C 2 t.:i £2 5,s oiitMfle of t<h:' pi'iiifipal citie-. the nece.ssari<-.s of life (in the aggregate) were Nearer K'.v far than they a.i'o to-cl.iv. WliiLe sugar, sold today at 2.1(1.. was then fid per lb, and ()rown sugar cc-st Id. Ten. now o'btainablo at l?s for l'e.t (|uality, wa ; tht-n ! s per lb. and biv-ad u a.s suld at from (id to 8d tlie lib loaf, according to thf- IliK.-tiiatiiin.s of (!i-e flour market. The re was no "Flour Trii-st , ' in t.ho.se days, but the price of (lour "did" fluctuate then, through Mr Hyron ISrown may be .surprised to hear it. Of'lier foodstuffs were dear, ton. A dozen bana.nas, now olttainalile at (id to Bd, wore then luxuries sold at 2s to 2s fid per dozen, in the inland towns, and the 2s level was seldom touched. This year, when butter rose to Is 0d per pound, as a consequence- scorched pastures a.nd diminisilved' milk yields, assertions of rings and combines wore made by tl'.e legion of city quid , mines who scarcely know t'he difference 'between n poddy calf and a.iJabcock tester. Vet it was not uncommon in t'he middle eighties for winter hiitter to be sold at 2s (id per pound, though in summer it sometimes foil to Bd. To the questioner who appropriately asks at this stage how the working man in those times managed to live at all, we would a.nswor tivat he lived well enough—and as one proud tio l>o J of the working class we write from personal memory and experience. Meat was cheap in t<h.ose days, ti,s well as rent; when butter was dear .good dripping was good enO'ligli for cihiildreii yand to wear a pair of moleskin trousers was no toy's disgrace. Tbo plain fact ol th© case is that the luxuries of a quarter of a century ago are to-day

necessities. This improvement in t'lio standard of living and of coinfort is cause for congratulation, and wo, would make it dear that we are not of those who would advocate a return to tire Spartadi-like conditions of tlio old times. What we 'are concerned about is the ascertainment of a. true perspective of the two cases. Living in New Zealand to-day, oven after high rents and big meat bills iliavo boen paid, is no dearer than it was a. quarter >of a century, ago.