The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, August 22, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1287, 22 August 1914, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, August 22, 1914. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Whatever may be the toll of lives in the great European war, the material cost threatens to be the heaviest in history. Some idea of the possibilities may be formed from the figures of the principal wars during the past half-century. Here is a table : W ar Cost. £ Crimean, 1854 340,000,000 Italian, 1859 ' 60,000,000 American Civil War, 1861-1865 1,400,000,000 Prussian, Austria and Italy, 1866 66,000,000 Franco-German, 18701871 444,000,000 Turco-Russian, 1877, Russia’s cost 102,000,000 Chino-Japanese, 1894, Japan’s cost 20,000,000 Spanish - American, 1898 270,000,000 Russo-Japanese, 1904-05 503.000,000 Balkans, 1912-1913 246,000,000 It is stated that France, Russia, and Great Britain between them have a war chest of in hand, while Germany, Italy, and Austria are said to have This hoard of gold seems enormous, but modern war eats gold. The RussoJapanese war, which lasted just eighteen months, cost Japan .£203,094,000, and Russia - 000,000. The Franco-German war, which lasted nine months, cost France, the loser, while Germany, having expended on the war, recouped herself by a war indemnity of extracted from France and by the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, valued at Thus she came out the gainer on the whole transaction by or, in round figures, two hundred millions sterling.

The local grocers have been compelled to increase the prices of certain commodities and in our last issue we published a list ot goods so effected. The housewife wants to know the reason and is asking questions. The retailer has, of course, to pass oa to the consumer any increase. Patriotism and sacrifice is now preached throughout the land, and rightly so. But we should like to ask how much patriotism and sacrifice the merchants are practising ? To increase the price ol goods in stock, which may be effected

in the futuie, at such a time as this, is not only immoral, but an evidence of blood-sucking greed, which large contributions to the patriotic fund does not palliate. The public was informed that the prices obtaining as from August ist were to be fixed by the Government as the maximum. Instead of this a forward rise has been made. There may be reason for an increase in price of goods to arrive, but the merchants cannot honestly whip on the prices for large stocks in hand. The Government has promised to look into this matter and we think the time has arrived for searching investigation.