COST OF LIVING.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 November 1918, Page 2

COST OF LIVING.

; labor and high prices.; reply of board ok trade. .:' j Tho following memorandum, with roll gard to Una statement as to the cost of j living recently issued by the Wcllhig- : ton Trades and Labor Council, has been prepared by Hie Hoard of Trade for the Minister in Charge, the Right Hon, W. ; F. Massey:— I I Following your request for the comment of the board regarding the report of the committee set up by the Trades and Labor Council to inquire into the | cost of living problem, tho board directs me to comment as follows;PAYING! THE PIPER. Some of the points raised in tJiio re- : port are outside tho province of the i Board of Trade, but dealing with the j paragraph headed "Paying the Piper" 1 and relating to the cost of carriage of coal, I have to point out that the board is at present engaged, at the request of the Government, in making a full in- . quiry into the coalmining industry in all its pihases, and tho order of reference covers the cost of production and distribution of coal from the mine to the consumer's eoalbin. The question of freight charges necessarily is included in the inquiry. MERCHANTS' ASSOCIATION 1 DEFUNCT. Respecting the report of the Cost of Living Commission in 1912, in regard to the existence and operations of the Merchants' Afsso/ciation of New Zealand, the board found that this association ceased to exist consequent upon. tfce judgment given in the case under the "Commercial Trusts Ac'.''—the King versus the Merchants' Association, the Colonial Sugar Company, Levin and Co., and others, November-December, 15)12. As to tho list of commodities quoted in tho report, the board finds that these are mainly imported goods, such as VanHouten's and Fry's cocoa, patent groats, Oakey's knife polish, Coleman's and Durham mustard, C. and B. ancihovy essence and curry powder, and Lea and Perrin's and Holbrook's sauces. It is somewhat surprising, in the board's : opinion, that articles such as these, kavI ing little bearing on tho cost of living question, should have been selected, because it must bo patent to everyone that Oakey's knife polish, for instance, C. and B. anchovy essence, ..and sauces, • and Dojrtyamfs mustard, would not j loom very large, surely, in the annual expenditure of tfto housewife. The prices ' of these goods are said to be wholesale. If so, it would appear that the dearest articles of the kind had been selected. A COMPARISON OF PRICES. If the wholesale prices of the articles controlled by the Board of Trade had •been selected, tho prices would have compared as follow:, i Maximum price Com- allowed mittee's by Board price of Trade £ s d £ s d 1 Candles - ..., Oil 0 Oil , Cocoa ..'.7..-.......; 0 4 9 0 3 6 Worcester sauce ... 0 17 6 0 5 6 Honey .......... 19 0 110 Cornflour ........ 0 0 6% 0 0 51 These are just a few of tine comparable items in the extraordinary list submitted. As you are aware, since March last the wholesale prices of 57 grocery lines have been controlled by the Board of Trade, following legislation passed in 1917. These lines might be regarded as necessary commodities, full particulars of which will be found in the Board of Trade's annual report to be laid before Parliament shortly. Dealing with imported grocery lines, the board desires me to state that it requires only a little reflection to show that prices are not exhorbitant, when account is taken of tho advances in the Home cost, high freights, war and marine insurance, and increased landing and handling charges. Furthermore, merchants must now provide double, and in some cases trebloy the capital that was necessary in pre-war time. COMPETITION A SAFEGUARD. The trade of New Zealand is conducted on competitive lines which insures the consumer getting him commodities at the lowest cost consistent mtiit safe trading. Anyone to-day with the necessary capital can engage hi the. grocery trade. Moreover, various co-operative societies, especially among farmers, have been formed throughout New Zealand with the object of eliminating all unnecessary middlemen's profits, and supplying their members and others, with goods on the smallest margin of profit. These societies are also in competition with the ordinary retailers, but their operations are not confined ■merely to supplying goods to their own members. The' general ■ public' .can purchase at these co-operative stores and;-obtain their,goods on tho same terms >as their: members. Indeed, in* respaet ies generally, it is the board's opinion ;that competition is keener "than'.in.alt most any other trade in the Dominion-. (DRAPERY PIUCE&: •<■■.', ■>..!• Dealing with the' ,two articles std'cKed ,by drapers, namely, Horrocks's" calico and flannelette, the board has madi 'ifi- ' quirics as to tlio present position <)f tneso commodities and : ascertained that the retail prices -to-day are 'actually, lower than the-prices quoted iii Ehglarki; hy tho .manufacturers, after allowing; for landing charges. :; liv'l'Mo -BiSse-ar-: ticle.vwero .lower in -priife th an" for inaiiy ; years''pre'vibusl/'aiftl spine drap>rtf Wot' .advantage 6r iW 16w : price- to'^tock:' : heavily, anct" arc therefore now M a jjosi-j . tion to place these goods on the'-inar-r I lcet at I price L thah'their;leWa-ior-j ' tunate's6mp'jjtitors can'buy'wholesahVlni i N'(«y , K^la > rld,.; , ''The'in'ice ruling'in Eiig-i , land 'l6p tins 1 , calico is per yard, •' which s landed 'hero works oiit"at'ls''-3d,! . whilst : retailer's ; aro selling it at' Iss-id i per yard. TlfB I 'local l ''wholiisale price "is : la i%&. In regard 'to flannelette, the: cct in IMS was- Id to T'/sd per yard. Iri' London to-day it : costs 23% d plus 15 per cent, or 2s 9d landed in New Zea- '• la-Ed. This is retailed to-day at 2s 3d : per yard. Tho prices generally of these V goods are 400 :per cent, higher in Engb land to-dav than they were in 1914, '.whilst local prices''have, advanced 250 1 '.per cent. '■ The"board'. would :p'oint.but that these *' 'figures are "borne -out t>y a case which "' cattte under-'tVcir'personal notice where ' a Government Department tried to buy '. a. large -supply of towels and Sheeting 1 'thxeiugh -the-iHirfv Commissioner direct ' from' tho .mamrfacturcrs. In IWI2 the " trowels wen; quoted at Ms per doz and ': tTte'sheefa- at; 4s '!> d each. The' best quo-1 I' Ration' -the Hitrh Commissioner' was able j \ pto.ioibtaiir to-day"was for towels 63s per j ' dazer^^md 1 sheets-I'Ss M each. 'ln 1912] . the'-total--edst-'of th's .quantity ordered!

day would cost £1517, an increase of upproxiuiately 400 per cent. MiMSTEKIAL STATEMENT., .During the course of his speech on the Address-inrßejJy on Wednesday night, the Hoa. G. W. llussell had something to say on the cost of living problem- He quite agreed that the cost of living had shown tremendous increases. He further admitted that all had not been done that should have been done to keep the priced down. Cost of living increases 1 were wt.rld wide, as would be shown by fiugres. : ">plicd to him by the Government, i-itaiistician the previous day. The figures, which were as follow, showed the percc-ntago of the increase in the cost of living in different portions of the world:— Australia, 31 per cent, at July, 1918. New Zealand, 39 per cent., at September, 1918United States, 50 pej; cent. 1 , at April, 1918. Japan, CO per cent., at July, 1917. Canada, 75 per cent., at July, 1918. Netherlands, SI per cent., at July, 1917. Italy, 8S per cent., at September, .1917. France, 01 per oent a at January, 1918. Switzerland, 9C per cent-, -at March, 1919. United Kingdom, 110 per cent., at July 1918. Germany, 109 .per cent.> at October, 191(5. Sweden, 147 per cent-, at April, 1918. Austria, 173 per cent., at August, 1917. Norway, 195 per cent., at March, 191 S. The Minister referred also to a question the previous day relative to the issue of a secret abstract of statistics. This abstract was really issued by the Imperial Government to the beads of certain Government Departments whose business concerned the same. These figures were confidential but were not so, because of the New ■ Zealand Government. They were confidential so that the enemy might npt be made awaro of the trade of the country. As to the nrice3 for New Zealand produce, would Labor members say that the New Zealand producers should accept lowerprices for their produce than the other Dominions'