WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 October 1916, Page 8

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

COST OP LIVING. WAR INCREASES, , (Special Correspondent.; Wellington, Oct. IS. There are some incongruities in the figures prepared by the Govermr.ent Statistician showing the increases in the prices of various commodities since the commencement of the war, to which the Board of Tratie very -well might torn its attention. For the purpose of comparison Mr. Malcolm Eraser divides his analysis of food prices into three groups, groceries, dairy produce, and meat, and shows how each has been affected in the four principal centres and in twenty-one representative towns. From this return it would seem that New Plymouth is the refuge to which every frugal housewife should be flying for relief from excessive

pr ; ces. While the price of groceries lias increased by as much as 22.94 per cent. in Wellington, and the average increase for the Dominion is 17.42 per cent., the increase in New Plymouth is onlv 7.54 per cent. The price of dairy produce has increased in Auckland 30.05 per cent., in Palmerston North 30.39 per cent., and in Christchureh 28.113 per cent., but in New Plymouth the increase is no more than 13.08 per cent. Meat, again, shows New Plymouth low down on the list with an increase of 11.32 per cent., while Palmerston North, of all places in the world, is at the head with an increase of 18.12 per cent., followed by Gisborne with 39.72 per cent., and Napier with 35.70 per cent. In this group the cities compare favorably, from the consumers' point of view, with the great grazing centres, Auckland having increased its price only 13.04 per cent. a?«l Wellington 17.0(5 per cent.

WHAT THE FIGURES MEAN. But the figures the Government Statistician sets out in another table suggest that the comparatively small increase in prices in New Plymouth and other centres which, stand well in the group analysis is due to the prices having been exceptionally high in these centres before the war. The figures show that foods in the three groups which cost 20s in New 'Plymouth before hostilities began now cost' 25s I<l, an increase of 5s Id, while a similar comparison show the increase in Auckland 5s 9d, in Wellington Gs, in Christchurch 4s sd, in C4isborne 5s lid, in Wanganui 4s lid, in Taihape 0s 4d, in Palmerston North Gs Id, in Blenheim 4s 4d, in Greymouth Oa, in Timam 4s fld.in Oamaru Cs 3d, and in Invercargill as Cd. These figures taken as a whole mean that the present worth of the sovereign, gauged 'by its average purchasing power now, has fallen from 20s to 15s 9d, or, roughly, 21 per cent. By this method of calculation New 'Plymouth does not get into the six cheapest places to live in, this distinction falling to Blenheim, Christchurch, Dunedin, Timaru, Nelson, and Wanganui, in that order, but the range is comparatively so small that it would appear the war has not only tended to increase prices, but also to equalise them.