The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1919. STATISTICAL INFORMATION SUPPRESSED.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3336, 14 November 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1919. STATISTICAL INFORMATION SUPPRESSED.

With which is incorporated “ The Taihape ‘Post and Waimarino Newa.”

The Monthly .Abstract of Statistics has been very considerably lessened in public interest by the unheralded omission of the “Cost. of Living‘ Thermometer._” It is safe to say that no page has interested the general public so much as that -on which appeared the Thermometer showing the monthly increases and decreases of prices of articles of daily consumption, and at no other time -has this ofiice been so freely requested by the public to let them View the Monthly Abstract as it came to hand. It has hitherto been the oneofiicial publication above all others "issued "by any Government Department that gave what to the people generally was -vitally important, information. It has ‘been -suggested to us that 'it maybe the profitecring class that has ‘influenced the Government to cut out suchmuch-sought-after information Mr Malcolm Fraser has been publish~ ing, but there is no shadow of chance of anything of that kind happening. The truth is Mr Fraser has‘ been brought up against a very serious rise in the cost of dairy produce in the gift ‘of ‘£340,000 made to dairy farmers_ ‘lt ‘is obviously wl~o'ng to suppress the cost to the country of subsidised flour and bread, and it would be equally wrong to suppress the fact that butter has cost. during the last year or two, £340,000 more than the Therinorneter in the Monthly Abstract has indicated, or taken any notice of. It‘ can be ilna.g‘incd wharf this month"s thermometer will look like if the £340,000 had to be added; a new and much. elongated thermometer would have to be constructed, or the dairy-produce mercury would burst the glass, and we are not quite sure whether this is not what: has really happened, and Mr Fraser, thinking something similar in one Eol.‘ other of the food groups might occur, has consulted his, masters, and tliey, being too busy with a general Cl(‘c’Cioll to give it any consideration, have told him to just cut it right out and rig up something else, no matter whether of public int.erest.'or not, to fill the page. Of course. subsidies ‘on wheat and flour and What are termed equalisations on butter, are paid by the public just as certainly as if they were paid over the counter when purchasing‘. By far the greater portion of taxation is paid by the masses of the people, and by these subsidies and equalisations they, are paying for keeping bread and butter down to a level that r.'ould not out~

rage ooe’s conscience to see published‘ in the Monthly Abstract. What is go- V ing to happen should thereby any‘ chance be a change of Government,‘ and -an administration comes,i'n‘fo be-l ing that cancels all subsidies and‘ equalisations, leaving the local bread! and. butter and other markets free to! fluctuate as they please, and who willl advise -the Statisticia.n’s Depa-rtment that. the Monthly Thermometer is to again appear? Will it not, with the addition of the wheat and flour subsidies and the. butter ,equaflisaltionS;i show that the sovereign, as compared with early 1914, is -actually not worth ten‘ shillings *-‘to-day? Of icourse it will! It is all very well to attribute last month’s abnormal increase of prices to the seasonal rise in potatoes and onions. but has not rice risen to sevenpence or eightpence a pound. and are the people not being told that the coming Cliristmag dinner i.s going to easily surpass all -records in cost. From the alarming rate that soap is soaring up people will soon have to wash themselves without soap. Tinned foods have largely increased in price, owing to higher quotations by packers and on adverse American exchange. Taking into reckoning subsidies and cqualisations, which will sooner or later be forced upon us, present increases and indicated increases, it is certain that by next January a sov-erei-gn will not purchase ten shillings’ worth of goods; a pre-war sovereign will not be worth 10/, if that. We know that these conditions do obtain, it is world-widely ‘admitted that there is shameful profiteering, but the New Zealand Board of Trade has so -effectually camoufl-avged the situation that no one can definitely say at this moment to what extent culpability is chargeable to either trader or Government in New_Zealand. We do say that at no time in the history of the world has any government so drastically fleeced the masses through the Customs as the National Government has do-ne. It may have been necessary to find money to carry on a war that seemed -as though it would not end, but there is no moral excuse for continuing such out.ra.geou—s profiteering by the Government now that ‘the war is ‘over. Retailers, local 'sh'opkeepers, are often looked askancc at, when the real culprit has been ‘the Customs Department. On every dutiable'article ‘imported which, owing to the war has doubled in first cost, the Customs has on iirst. cost, ‘doubled its ‘percentage. ‘lt levied 30 ‘per cent on -goods -costing a pound before the war, and now these same articles cost two pounds, the 30 per cent is still levied, ‘showing that the «Department "is actually adding 60 per cent to the cost to the public on the pre-war price, and by the time merchants" and other inteirmrediate profits on that 60 per cent are added, it is just «about 71.00 per cent before, it reaches the" people. We do i not wish the people to believe that all articles are subjected to a duty of 25 per cent ad valorem, we have merely (dated 11, case to indicate that the ‘ Customs .Department is doing its share ‘of profiteering and thus adding seriously to the cost of living. In July, ; 1914:, Taihape was the "fourth from "being the highest in cost ro.f:"living in ‘the three food groups, now it is leighth, so it will be seen that prices lhave not“ increased locally to the exltent they have in other places. But {the people of this country are faced ‘with indications that prices are going [to rise as they have never risen belfore. Tlieywheat-growing question will lhave to be faced; the butter question ymllst b 0 takcll seriously into -account; fgl'oC‘3‘-‘IOS are going up wholesale, pre‘sumably because manufaL'turers and :packcl's_'have put up their -prices. It lis natural that men who own the land 1 will work it so as to earn the highest Pl'ofi?s is capable of producing, and “'l'i-10 WC‘-5’ do that they are benefittlllg ihelllselves, and are performing their highest duty to their country, B3’ S“'Cm“€-1' the Value of exports over imports. and by earning the ‘last possible penny from the land at the Ininimum of cost and risk every. man, “"""”ma and child in the community is benefited. This country needs an ad. ministration that can and will fearlessly cope with these difliciilties. It is ill)ipol«‘.ltiVG flla‘-It our f|al.nl.cl.S Should QTOW “ileat, it is only'reasonable that in cases of compulsion they should not be placed in a worse position than “C” ‘‘‘'l‘o 8”I‘0W meat and yvool, but “it it imll(‘ra'tive' that our land. ishlould grow wheat while land can be more l3l'ofii"lblY ‘7ml3I0yo(l, and wlleat can be purcliasetl at a lower price than that at Whi‘-"1’ W“ 0311 produce it? All these questions have a vital bearing upon the national life, and they furnish the basis of nearly all the difficulties, and they are m3YiY.» upon which the cost of “villi; troubles rest. We regret that the Statistician has abandoned his M°"*ihl.‘.’ Th€l‘lnonlvetc‘l' slnjowing flueill‘~‘~iio“s in the cost of life necessar--I°»*= and We are of opini-on that all Costs in the three food groups should be clearly shown, whether they are ‘lmid ‘3Vf‘!' 3- Colmter. or whether they are in the form of wheat and flour subsidies, or in eqnalisation payments for 7_’l"”Cl'- We, know that ‘such unchron"3““l,P3T"lll9nts breed more discontent 3.m‘ollg‘=sli’ ‘the masses, lthau. anytthing else in the cost of living question;