THE COST OF LIVING.

Taihape Daily Times, 11 April 1918, Page 4

THE COST OF LIVING.

A derisive guffaw spontaneously burst forth, on every side of the House when Mr. Poole, M.P. for Auckland gave notice of his intention to ask the Government what steps they had taken to carry ' out the recommendations of the Cost of Living Committee set up last year. Why did that derisive guffaw arise sb promptly on the mention of such a question? It was irrefutable evidence of venal disregard of the hardships the masses are suffering. It displayed across the heavens, that all might read, the utter hollowness of the Government's pretensions in keeping down the unnecessarily high cost of living; that the Government had been guilty of throwing away hundreds of thousands of pounds in keeping up a cruel fallacy. The derision of the whole House coming on the spur of the moment, without time for thought "or deliberation, showed conclusively with what 'the collective mind of members ' is ' fully obsessed with on "the cost' of living question. The derision of members has removed'•: the last doubt in' the minds of the masses about Government insincerity People may now realise that systematlsed expenditure has been kept up~''solely for the purpose of hoodwinking and cajoling them into the belief that Government was earnestly and honestly trying to keep down the cost of living. The derisive guffaw is the final evidence to convict the Government. Not a member in the House could refrain from derisively laughing at the suggestion even of controlling the cost of living. The House stands convicted of knowing the real state of the : cost of living question and of witholdihg the protests that should have''been'made by it. The people are being ruled by trickery, or why the derisive guffaw? Members laughed at the simplemindedness of Mr. Poole in thinking that the Government was at all concerned about the cost of living any further than to hoodwink and betray the people. It is safe to say that no Government has ever accomplished so much that will tend to lengthen the memories of those who elected it than the self-enthroned coterie under Mr. Massey.