THE KAIPARA AND WAITEMATA ECHO WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED " THE KAIPARA ADVERTISER & WAITEMATA CHRONICLE." HELENSVILLE, THURSDAY, APRIL, 26, 1917. THE COST OF FOOD

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 26 April 1917, Page 2

THE KAIPARA AND WAITEMATA ECHO WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED " THE KAIPARA ADVERTISER & WAITEMATA CHRONICLE." HELENSVILLE, THURSDAY, APRIL, 26, 1917. THE COST OF FOOD

Commenting upon the continuous advance in the price of foodstuffs, the Christchurch Star says —On every hand there* is exploitation of food supplies, without an effort being put forth by the Goverument or the bodies which it has created for this duty to restrain the wholesale robbing of the consumer. Robbery it certainly is, for no sound excuse can be advanced for the extraordinary increases in the staple foods of life which have accumulated during the past two years. Meat, bread, milk, and butter are the products of the country, and the cost of production has obviously not increased. The producer, whether on a large or small scale, has the public at his mercy, and practically can extort what prices he pleases. The position has become so intolerable for the great body of the public that the administration cannot any longer evade the obligation cast upon it of eni deavouring to ease the burden of living to the wage-earners. Somewhere in New Zealand there are, it is believed, a Cost of Living Commission and a body called the Board of Trade ; but what these bodies are doing, whethei, indeed, they are still alive, is a mystery no one seems able to solve. They most certainly have cjone nothing to justify their existence. If by any chance they should not be dead, but merely slumbering, it is time they were suddenly kicked into activity, and advised to apply themselves %q the objects for which they were created!