THE COST OF LIVING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3771, 12 September 1907, Page 3

THE COST OF LIVING.

A Comparison. Twenty-Five Years Ago—and Now. Controversies are frequently heard as to the extent by which cost of living has advanced in recent } r ears, and theie has come to be held a general opinion that to live nowadays is very much more expensive than it used to be. In respect of rent and butchers’ meat the increased cost has been very marked, so far at least as Wellington is concerned, but in respect of general commodities it has been difficult to ascertain the actual position owto difficulty in finding (at present day) books setting out the prices ruling in bygone years. The other day, however, an invoice book for the years 1882-4 was discovered by the firm of D. W. Virtue and Co., of Welllington, which in those years carrried on an extensive business in wholesale and retail supply at Hokitika, and the wholesale prices for practically all the staple commodities form interesting reading and make striking comparison with the ruling prices at the present day. On 21st June, 1882, the Victorian Sugar Company was charging £35 per ton for sugar f.o.b. at Melbourne, which meant £>2 per ton landed in New Zealand. At the present moment sugar is being sold at exactly half that amount. Another Victorian sugar shipment in the same year cost £>B to land in New Zealand. Salted butter from Kaiapoi was sold wholesale at a shilling per pound f.ob. in October, 1882, which meant a much increased price before it was secured by the consumer. Fowlwheat was 3s 1 id per bushel, f.ob. at Oamaru, in June, 1882, and in August of the same year Wilson, Harraway and Co., of Dunedin, were selling oatmeal at £l6 per ton, exactly what it costs to-day. In the same year chaff ranged from £5 IOS P er ton u P wards t 0 £6 los ; its present price being still about £5 los ; and Oamaru flour in 1882 was £>o 15s per ton at Oamaru, which was 15s dearer than it now is, though wheat was often gd per bushel cheaper. A shipment from Dunedin in the same year cost £ll 5s f.o.b. at Dunedin. In 1887 it was £lO per ton. Potatoes sold at £3 per ton at Oamaru in 1882, the landed cost at Wellington being £4, and bran was quoted at £3 15 s , as against £3 los and £3 ss. Oats in 1882 were sold at 3s qd f.o.b. at Timaru. They were now 3s id. Currants were landed from Victoria 25 years ago from the firm of James Service and Co., at per pound. Their cost was now 4d t 0 Dressed rice was then £23 18s a ton, it is now £>s 15s; treacle was £9 10s to £lO 10s (about as much again as it now costs); and jams cost 6s 8d per dozen (wholesale) small tins landed in New Zealand. The best of jams can now be bought for 5s 6d per dozen, and there are three tins of jam to be bought for a shilling in Wellington retail shops. Barbed wire in 1883 was £>s per ton, and now it could be bought for £>4 xos. A line of course salt is involved at £4 17s 6d per ton against £3 at present. Kerosene was is B )4d per gallon whereas it could now be purchased for xxd. Cement was 16s per cask, against iis to 12s this year. Fine salt was £5 per ton landed at Wellington ; to-day it costs £3 ss. Price’s candles were 9 was 6)4(1. An odd invoice for 1887 shows onions f.o.b. at Christchurch for £6 ss. per ton in October. They are now obtainable at £6 xos per ton.-—Post.