COST OF LIVING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2650, 25 October 1923, Page 2

COST OF LIVING.

ARBITRATION ANALYSIS. AWARDS UNALTERED. Dunedin, October 22. The Arbitration Court issued the following pronouncement to-day:—■ The Court has investigated the movement in the cost of living for the six-monthly period of April-Sep-tember, 1923. As on former occasions, it worked on the principle of the six-monthly moving average and based its calculations on ‘all groups’ statistics covering the whole field of the cost of living figures for clothing, footwear, fuel, light, and miscellaneous groups. All show decreases but the food figures, which disclose a small increase and the figures for all groups with their proper weighting, showing an increase of 1.3 per cent, for the period. The following table indicates the movement of the “all groups” figures, based on the six-monthly average, during each half-yearly period since March, 1922 : Percentage Increase over Half-Year ended July, 1914. March, 1922 ' 07.0 September,. 1922, .... 59.0 March, 1923 50.3 September, 1923, 57.5 Measured in wages, the increased cost of living for the half-year is equivalent to an increase of Id per hour., or 1/- per week, in the male adult wage. The statislcal investigation for the half yearly period ended March 31, 1923, discloses a fall in (lie cost of living that represented a reduction of Ad per hour, or 2s per week, in the male adult wage, but the Court on that occasion, with the concurrency of the employers of the Dominion, decided, in view of the rising tendency observable in rents and the tendency to hardening prices in some of the other groups, not to make a general order reducing wages in accordance with the ascertained fall in the cost of living. The increase of 1/- per week now recorded, reduces the fall of 2/ per week to 1/- per week.

The Court believes it to be desirable in the interests of trade and industry that wages should not fluctuate at short intervals more than is necessary, anfl as rents have agjiin increased it lias decided not to alter the existing minimum rates. The effect of this decision is that workers still have 1/- per week in hand to offset any possible further increase in the cost of living.

This is the last pronouncement of the Court under the cost of living legislation, which expires on December 31, 1923. The present bonuses and Ollier cost of living additions to wages will, however, continue ip force during the currency of all existing awards and industrial agreements. When new awards and industrial agreements are to be . made the rates of remuneration will be fixed in accordance with the conditions of trade and industry and other relevant circumstances then prevailing and will not be subject to variation in sympathy with anj’ mofgjj meat in the cost of living during their currency.