WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 March 1917, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

c Uost of Living. , Mounting Up- j (Our Special Correspondent.) i Wellington, May 12 f It ia scarcely necessary to remind , the average housewife that the cost of j living continues to mount up with the , prolongation of the war, but the last { number of the Abstract of Statistics, , the useful little brochure issued each ] month by the Government Statistician, contains some figures bearing on the subjsot which will enable the rest of the community to appreciate the magnitude of her troubles.

Mc Malcolm Eraser has set out the facts of the position with admirable clearness, tracing the rise of prices in three food groups—groceries, dairyproduce and meat—from the beginning of the war down to the present time in each of twenty-five representative towns in the Dominion; but apparently some of the newspapers in commenting upon his table showing the percentages of increase have not quite understood its meauing. The percentages are calculated from the local prices before the war in each case, so that a town where prices were low in tho first half of 1914 may be represented ai having a larger pri’* csntsge increase than a town where prices were high during that period, though the actual increase may be substantially lees. LOCAL PRICES. As illustrating this point the cases of Palmerston North and Gisborne may bo taken. In July 1914, according to tbe Government Statician, Palmerston North was sailing tho commodities included in the three groups at lower prices, taken as a whole, than was any other town in tbe Dominion, while Gisborne was amo g the towns in which prices wero high. But Palmerston North having brought its prices up to tho average war lovol ie now shown to have increased them by 38.78 per cent, the largest percentage increase in the list, while Gisborne, where prices are now higher than anywhere else in the country, is credited with an increase of only 36.72 per cent. The best view of the position is obtained from the table showing how much money is required to-day in o"ch town to purchase a given quantity of commodities which could be purebred before the war for a sovereign. T-nii places the twenty-five rspra-

3 seutative (owns in 'be following order. 3 Blenheim 25/2}, Dunedin 25/4}, 1 Nelson 25/s}, Timaru 25/7}, Ashbur--1 tou 25/11}, New Plymouth 25/11}, ' Christchurch 25/U}, Wellington 26/34, Mailertou 26/4|, Auckland ; 26/5," Palmerston North 26/s}, lover- ■ cargill 26/s}, Hamilton 26/6}. Napier ’ 26/7}, Camara 28/B}, Wanganui ' 26/9}, Dannevirke 26/10}, Gore i 26/10}, Grtymoutb 27/2}, Whangarei 27/2}, Alexandra 27/34, Rotorua - 27/3}, Waibi 27/10, Taihape 27/llj, , and Gisborne 28/3}. The great bu'k i of the ina»earea took p-ace during the first year oi the wa r , but there have been gradual increases ever einca. THE RAILWAY COMJIIS SION Thb member for £Lu.tt ia not the only person here surprised by a statement attributed to Mr E. H. Hiiey in a report appearing in one of the lccal papers of tbe evidence he gave before the Railway Commission in Christchurch on Saturday, “At first, i the summary of tbe General Manager’s remarks reu s, “ha legardad Mr Wilford’s statements as rather frivolous, and wrote to Mr Herries, offer- , iog reports fiom responsible officers, and said be did not think an inquiry was necessary. When the papers wore laid on the table and Mr Wiltord repeated bis statements and said he believed the statement of his informant as against the considered statements of the responsible officere, he, with other officers o ? tho department, lisked for an inquiry. He considered that it would have been unwise not to have done 80.” Evidently Mr Hiiey was under an entire misapprehension as to what really occurred. Mr Wilford spoke, es he was compelled by the absurd rules of the House to do, before the reports from the responsible officers were laid on the cable, and he waa followed by the Minister, who assured bimvthst when ha saw the papers he would be perfectly satisfied. Of course, the member for Hutfc had bad no previous opportunity to rei tho papers and when they were accepted by the House he regarded the incident as closed, till hs heard of the appointment of the Commission which he had neither sought nor suggested. MEMBER FOR HAWKES BAY. Sir John Findlay, the new member for Hawkes Bay, retained to Wellington this evening and received tho congratulations of bis friends upon hia victory. The contest seems to have been a very strenuous one from the first and to have kept the candidates and their active supporters hard at werk till the very last vote was recorded. The poll waa larger than was generally expected in the district, there being a feeling abroad that both the members of the Labour Party and the rank and file of the Reform Party would abstain from voting, but it still fell a long way short of the returns at the general eleotion. Sir John made an excellent impression on the platform whenever he spoke, and his local friends are confident of his being able to hold the seat when hs is b-tter known in the constituency and has had an opportunity to diisipaio tho rather narrow parochialism that was so largely exploited during the campaign. On this point and upon the popular assumption that be ia to be offered a Beat in the National Cabinet, Sir John refuses to be drawn, but he declares his aspiration*) go no further than to win the.approval of his constituents and to fill the place where he may render tbe best servico to them, to the Dominion and to the Empire. . First shipment of new winter millinery, ex s.s. Rotorua, now showing at McKay's, the Leading Drapers.—Advt. WOLFE’S SCHNAPPS stimulates the organs of urinatioD.

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