THE COST OF LIVING

Taranaki Daily News, 27 February 1918, Page 2

THE COST OF LIVING

Tlic current number of the Abstract of Statistics issued by Mr.- Malcolm Fraser. tbc Government Statistician, shows that the cost of living so far as it is affected by the prices ruling for the commodities included in the three food .croups, groceries, dairy produce, an;! meat, is still rising. Mr. Fraser bases his calculations on the average prices ruling in. the four chief centres from 11)09 to 1915 and taking this as his index number (1000). sets out in higher numbers the advances that had occurred up to the eve of the outbreak of war, and that have occurred since. Un July 31, 1914, according to His Statistician's system in ;>-,1.,. „•.!... Palmerston North was the cheapest market in the Dominion for the articles included in :the three food groups. Its figure was 900, that is its prices wore sightly- lower in the aggregate than the average prevailing in the four chief centres during the period from 1900 to HUH. The figures of other representative towns at tl'iis time were Wanganui 1030, Dunedin ;. t'o42, Christchurch 1049, Thnaru 1001, Invereargill 1004, Blenheim 1060, Gisborne 1073, Wellington 1093, Oamanj 1090, Auckland 1090. Hamilton 1093, New Plymouth 1119, Tnihape 1144. Oevmouth 11(17. At the end nf the December quarter, after practically three years of war. the figures in these towns weror Palmerstnn North 1410, Wanganui 1401, Dunedin 13(i:>, Christchurch 1358, Tim-, aru 1354, Invereargill 1410 Blenheim 1420, fiisbornc 1463, Wellington 1458, Oamaru 1416, Auckland 1440, Hamilton 1?.53, New Plymouth 1438, TaihApe 1405, GreymouU; 1397- The average for the w,holo Dominion just before the commencement of the war wad 1070, or.an advance of 70 upon the average for-the four-year period 1009 to 1913- and the. average prices being charged on .Tuly 31j. 1914 'Some of the comparisons that are being made between the advance of prices in different towns without a -pro ; per understanding of the figures, are distinctly unfair. Pa'linersf.on ■ North, for instance, has been quoted as -a "horrid example,'' because its prices of today are returned as 4.103 per eont high-' cr than those it was charging before, -the war. the highest percentage advance in the whole list. But,, of course, the percentage in this town is high because its pre-war prices were ex""»l ion-nO-v hnvi Its present figure, the real test, is 1410.1 While Wellington's figure is MIS.- Auckland's 1140, Napier's 1490 and Mastertoil's 1441. New Plymouth, whose prewar prices were high and whe.se. percentage advance is only 28.01, has a figure, of 1435, which is substantially larger than that of Palmei'ston NForth. Other towns that have- been misrepresented in this way on account of the lownrss . of their pre-war prices are Wanganui, Blenheim. Invereargill and Dunedin. The .: outstanding feature, of the: quarter's figures, and, indeed, of all the returns sine the commencement of the war, is the advance of prices in Wellington. In the grocery group jiist 'before the. outbreak of war Auckland's number was :.]OOI, Wellington's 1038, Christchurch's 1040 and Dunexlin'iS l'll-l. Now Ihe figures are Auckland 1313, Wellington 1470, Christchureli 1254, and Dunedin 123". There was not a great deal of difference, as will be seen, in the figures of Wellington and Christchurch on July 31, -1914. but since Wellington prices I have ■.' ivanced 42.28 per cent, and Christ l eliiirci- only 23.75 per cent. In the I dairy produce group Wellington always has been high, but starting at the figure llO.i, compared with Ohristchnrcb 1024;-. :before the war, it has now readied 1429, while Cliristehurch stands at 1251.! It' is only in meat (bat. Wellington com-, pares favorably with the other large centre- and.here, thanksto the i>it3enen : dent action of one of the big -freezing companies, it is below them, all with a figure of ].<!tf. while Auckland's • figure i«_ lfiio. Ohristeliureh's 1-524 and Dime, din's 1.V.1. T-A-eept in this , particularcommodity Wellington tradesmen.appear to have a free hand to "rot...what they please for their goods. When' the huge rents charged j n (,|, O capital., city are., taken into account it is a -long-, way ahead of every other town, great,and small, in the cost of living. Its rtgure is IS7O. while the faiTc o? Auckland is '•MS. Ohristcihurch 1174, Dunedin- 31-03, Hamilton 1249. Gisbonio 1250, New V]ymontl) 1228, Wangajjni 1231,,Tftihap* 1250. Pajmerston Worth. 1208, Blenheim llfil. Orevmouth 1129, Oamaru 114 ft and. Tiwcrcnrsrill 1143. Tbc (privilege of living at the seat of Government Is an extremely expensive one-