The Daily News. SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1916. THE COST OF LIVING.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1916. THE COST OF LIVING.

It is not surprising that the cost of living question is'" exercising the minds of the workers of New Plymouth. The Board of Trade is coining up next week and tile workers have set up a committee to gath;r and place before it evidence on the question. The increased cost of living, however, is not confined to these parts; it is general throughout the land —indeed, it is general throughout the world, the cause being the war. Prices of foodstuffs consumed in New Zealand are fixed by the prices obtaining in the Home markets. Those prices ire unusually high, owing to the military demands. and consequently the local public are obliged to pay correspondingly high prices. The wheat market, howe\er, is not abnormal, and there is no warrant for the big prices obtaining in New Plymouth for the "staff of life."

In tliis respect, the public could find relief only, it would appear, by commencing a ro-opo.rutivo bakery, but the experience of the past does not lead one to anticipate that audi a movement would lie successful for long. As soon as th: bakery commenced, prices would, of course, come down, and the members of the co-operative concern would probably, as hitherto, leave their own business in the lurch. In the meat line there is at present 110 great scope for reduction in prices. Stock is high, and the butchers are not waxing very fat these times. If the butcher* did away with their deMvery carts, a saving could be effected. Careful housewives are already calling at the shops instead of paying the extra charge for delivery. In milk, butter and cheese, there is 110 possibility of a reduction, except the Government impose an export tax, which it lias 110 intention of doing. House rents are not likely to come down; rattier the reverse, owing to the extra charges on property inposed by the Government and municipal bodies. Workers can ease their lot to some extent by being more self-contained. They can grow their own vegetables, keep poultry, and, where possible, their own cows. Two acres in the suburbs can be secured for about the same rent as a quarter acre in town, and a worker would be infinitely better ofi' there than in his present cramped suroundings. It would mean b»ing further away from his work, bi.t that would be a small disability compared with the advantages accruing. The Government might do something to help the workers to secure such areas and luiild homes for themselves. , Transit facilities would soon follow. It is in this direction where relief can be found from the pressing cost of living. It is We are afraid, impossible to hope for any marked reduction in the cost of living in the near future, and workers may as well make up their minds about this and not depend upon securing higher rites of wages —which, in a round about way, they ultimately have to pay themselves —but to take action in the direction of relying more upon their own efforts, becoming self-reliant and exercising economy wherever they can