COST OF LIVING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2588, 2 June 1923, Page 1

COST OF LIVING.

NEARING- PRE-WAR FIGURES. A fall in the meat group prices is counter-balanced by a very slight rise in the prices th© other two main groups—food and groceries—for the period terminating at April 15. New Zealand now stands third to South Africa and United States in the race to get the cost of living back to the pre-war level. The index number for the three food groups as at April 15 as coming to the Government Statistician is 1515, an increase of 3 points as compared with that for the previous month, and an increase of 41.59 per cent, as compared with that for July, 1914. The rise of 11 points in the groceries group is due almost entirely to a considerable and all round increase in the price of sugar. In the dairy-products group an increase of 10 points has been recorded. Increases in the price of eggs in most towns have been the main factor in causing the rise in this group. The index number for the meat group has fallen 9 points. Decreases in the prices of beef joints in several towns have been the main causes of this fall. The latest available comparisons with. 1914 for the principal countries publishing statistics of retail prices of food are as shown in the following table: — Increase Country Per. Cent. South Africa 17 United States .... 41 New Zealand 42 Holland (Amsterdam) 42 Canada 42 Australia 45 India (Bombay) ~.. 49 Sweden 66 United Kingdom .... 68 Denmark 80 Norway 114 France (Paris) .... 216 Belgium 339 Italy (Rome) 376 Finland 992 Germany 136500