THE COST OF LIVING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 51, 18 July 1912, Page 6

THE COST OF LIVING.

To the Editor. Sir.—Much iias been said and written concerning the relative cost of living and largely with a view to make good the assertion that the cost has greatly increased, but we should be nearer the truth if we substituted the word "scale" for "cost," because on the whole the cost of necessaries of life are in favor of the consumer of to-day. I can remember flour being 20s per lOOlbs, barb wire Gos per reel, kerosene 10s per case, and many other things in proportion in Auckland itself, but without going back so far as that, let me quote some prices from a storekeeper's account for goods supplied in 18!>2, just twenty years ago:—Flour, Hack 225.' mollis 12s,' 251bs oatmeal 3s 3d, 4()lbs sugar 10s, kerosene 12s case. 561bs rice 13s, salt 8s per cwt., matches (tins) 2s per dozen, currants 6d lb, tea 2s Od to 2s Sd. barb wire llts. staples 3d, roasts of beef 4'/..(l lb, boots (water-lights, made to measure) 20s, moleskin trousers 8s to 10s (best); and these prices were from a store not far from a railway station and in central Taranaki. So that wages have improved much more than the necessaries of life cost to the consumer, u we except rent, on which I cannot give any opinion, as I did not pay rent in the long ago. and consequently the cost of living (necessaries) is relatively lower to-day than wages. Of course, in those good old days the picture show was not in evidence quite so much and bikes were not quite so common; boots were gen-' erally a bit stouter and clothing a trifle coarser, but I think we were quite as happy and much more contented than we are in these advanced and enlightened days. There were also fewer complaints of the cost of living.—l am, etc., OLD-TIMER.