THE COST OF LIVING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1543, 27 April 1916, Page 2

THE COST OF LIVING.

Lest New Zealanders should think they are hardly dune hy in regard to the Cost of Jjiving 1 , it may he staled in, support, of the eontention that the position in this eonntry is better than that prevailing elsewhere, that in Kngland thepurchasing value of the sovereign has declined to Ids Bd. “Household expenses have (according to the ‘Weekly Despatch,’ of a. recent date) increased 30 per cent, all round, food is 40 per cent, dearer, rent 2 per cent, more, fuel and light. 25 per cent, higher, clothing vJO per cent, more, and a. miscellaneous number of things ranging from washing to window cleaning, 45 per ceid. costlier. Bacon has reached the price of a dainty. It. is Is (id per lb., and yet it was not so long ago that the most appetising rasher cost no more than a, Is per lb. The penny bloater, ‘the poor man's salmon,’ is [triced at 3d, and for kippers, you must pay (id a pair, or three limes as much as formerly. The sixpenny haddock is Is. Flour that, used to be 7 lbs. for a shilling is now is Bd, and the iUd egg, with no guarantee as to its freshness, makes us look back with envy on the day when we thought eggs at S for Is. were surpassingly dear. We, pay Id a lb. more for our butler, and our milk is sd. instead of 4d. a quart, and irregularly delivered in the bargain. The succulent onion is 2Ad. a lit., insead of 2 lbs. for .1 Ad., and apple pie is scarcer because cooking apples are three tinles the usual price. We only get game if money is no object, for the poulterer has doubled his prices. The war has made t he penny packet of salt 2d, and given us only half the normal quantity of soda for one penny. We are glad to get soda even at that [trice for many shops cannot replenish their stocks.