The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 1914. THE COST OF LIVING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 86, 2 April 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 1914. THE COST OF LIVING.

On every hand in these times we hear much about the cost of living problem. It is a real one to the great majority, and naturally finds its place in party politics. Though there is much clamour for reduction it still remains to

be seen how any such reduction may be affected. Governments of all shades of opinion have the question to bother them, and it will be remembered that die Hon. T. Mackenzie, during his term of office established a Commission which went throughout the Colony and took much evidence from many sources. Practically no good ms yet resulted from the labors of the Commission, which did little 1 more :han emphasise the fact that the cost of living in New Zealand has steadily idvanced of late years. This is not :o be wondered at when one rememiers the greatly increased cost of or.oduction and the higher rates of

wages which prevail. But though there nay be causes which it is out of the oower of the people to prevent and which have made the necessaries of ifo dearer than they were some years igo, it is clearly certain that there s greater extravagance, not only in his country, but throughout the civilised world. The Canadian correspondent of a Southern journal, in dismissing the question as affecting his own onntry makes a suggestion which nay indeed be a cure. He says: No me who has his eyes open can fail o see that a great deal of what is ■ailed the high cost of living attaches iirectly to the scale. A return to the ample life would solve nearly every rouble which is believed to have its ■oot in the enhanced cost of real necessaries. For one thing, if bread be the faff of life, it is worth remembering hat the price of wheat was never ower. So that, by mere adjustment, ho pinch of higher cost could be met f thero were a general disposition to adopt that remedy. Sheer imitation

lies at the foundation of more than half of the inconvenience arising out of the higher cost of living. That much is obvious to the observant. We follow the fashions set by our neighbours. No one wants to be odd. This would be a more or less harmless weakness if our neighbours had no more means than ourselves; but when they are wealthy the case takes on a different complexion. It is, to say the least, an expensive and heartbreaking thing to try to keep up with a neighbour who has two dollars to spend to our one. Tet it is just in such futile efforts that most of our difficulties have their rise, and we blame them on the cost of living.