THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1923. COST OF LIVING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4529, 19 February 1923, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1923. COST OF LIVING.

To some the ris'e and fall in the cost of living is truly indicated by the Monthly Abstract of Statistics. Most householders know, however, that such is not the case, and that whatever the statistician may say theil- experience is more concerned with “rises” than “falls.” And, no matter what statistics are said to indtoatc, the undeniable fact remains that some goods are to-day higher in price than ever during the waft’. There was, for instance, a big slump in wool, as a result of which many sheepfarmers were ruined. But was the fall in wool ever passed on to the retail buyer of woollen goods ? Have the prices of the best woollen underwear dropped one farthing? Those who purchase them know that the rising tendency lias continued all through, and that soniie of the best New Zealand makes are to-day the same, if not higher, in price than at any stage during the war. It is not suggested that there may not be a legitimate reason why the prices have to be maintained by the reta'ileft's, but it can truthfully be contended that, while the price of the best-wearing materials remain at war values, groups of figures relating to a rise and fall in the price of potatoes are of little use in determining the actual cost of living. Five minutes’ conversation with a woman who has to clothe and shoe five children is more convincing than a year’s figures supplied by a staff < statisticians. It is, of course, an undoubted fact that goods of a class can be cthained at. much lower prices than during the war, but by comparison with the prewar materials they are considerably below “steerage.” In fact, in most cases they represent a new departure not worthy of being stamped as' “made anywhere.” In Japan a paper 'raincoat can be bought for one penny. If these were imported into the Dominion could it be said that raincoats had dropped 1200 per cent, because the real decent article was £5 in 1917 or 1918? Of course it couldn’t, yet that is practically what is being done in connection with, many lines now on the ma-’ket. The patriot (sic.) who howled about goods “mad.e in Germany” sees no harm in advocating things “made in Japan.” And because the market is being flooded with cheap and shoddy goods we arc told the retail prices show a decrease for the month of so many points. Tins is alleged to represent a decrease in the cost of living. But. does it adtually represent the true position ? To the man who buys the best because it is cheaper in the end some of the “cost of living” arguments are on the lines of “if a man can live on rice he reduces his cost, of living. ’ As a problem for statisticians’ the “cost of living" is about on a par with the ancients’ endeavours to discover perpetual motion. Figures can be jugsled with till they are capable of representing almost anything—except practical experience.