COST OF LIVING.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1919, Page 5

COST OF LIVING.

KEEPING IT DOWN. BOARD OF TRADE BILL. By Telegraph.r-Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The House resumed at 7.20. The Premier, in moving the second reading ef the Board of Trade Bill, said it was £ measure attracting 'attention throughout the Dominion, and even outside New Zealand. He hoped the House would do it justice. The first part of the Biirprovided for setting up the Board of Trade, while the second part dealt with the functions of the board. There was a widespread opinion that a good deal of profiteering was going on, but he desired to point out that the prices always rose after '-war, and this must inevitably be so, because so many men who formerly were' producers went into the trenches arid production went down. Though it- was undeniable that prices had gone up in the Dominion, it was some consolation to know that the cost of iliving had risen less in New Zealand tb»n in most other countries in the world, especially England. "He repeatedly heard it :*aid that the cost of living had not risen in France., He had a list of articles in common use ; in that country to show that it had risen there, and risen very considerably. It also had been said that the Government should have legislated to. keep down the cost of primary products, but it must not be forgotten that the cost of production has greatly increased, and he ventured to say the profits of the farmer were no greater to-day than before the war. It must also be remembered that the cost of things we imported had also increased. There was only one way to keep down the cost of living, and that was to stop profiteering, and that was the object of the Bill. He was afraid the people hardly realised all that the Government had done to keep down the cost of living, and he proceeded to relate the arrangement made under which the butchers could get meat from the freezing companies, declaring that better arrangements could not have been made in the interests of the people. The arrangement made with the Colonial Sugar Company was most advantageous. It had kept the price of sugar in New Zealand lower than in any other part of the world. Butter had been sold to the consumer in the past season at less than the export value, and "in "the; coming season consumers would not have to pay more than they did two years ago. Then the customs duties had ndt been- increased, except in two instances, tea and beer. Against that, the salaries of those in. the public service had been raised to' meet the cost of living where the Government could not prevent it rising In addition, there was the Moratorium Act, which had been of great service in stabilising the rate of interest. In all these respects the efforts of the Government had a most salutory effect. Much had been said about the Government not giving effectfto"'the recommendations of the Cost of Living Commission. One of these recommendations was the appointment of* food controller, but he pointed out that such'an officer in England was appointed to ration the people, not to keep down the cost of living, and he (Mr. Massey) would not have liked to see applied to New Zealand some of the methods of the Food Controller in Britain or America. The Board of Trade was substituted for the food controller, and the Bill before the House gave them ample power to deal with the situations likely to arise which they had not had up to the present. He quoted other Acts passed against trusts and combines to prevent the undue raising of prices. A» a matter of fact, nearly the whole of the recommendations | of the committee would be given effect to. He did not approve of the proposal of the commission that we should create a fleet of ships ,at present, as the co<t of construction was too high. He thought the most we could do for the time was to endeavor to regulate freights. Much was being said about what the Government of Queensland had done to keep down the cost of living, but the official figures showed that, while the cost of living in New Zealand has risen 33.1, in Queensland it stood at 51.8. He read official reports to show the enviable position of New Zealand. So as boots were concerned, they were being sold in Wellington cheaper than in London. This, he claimed, was due to the legislation passed by the National Government for the purpose of keeping down the price of food and clothing to the people. He then briefly referred to the various ! clauses of the Bill, claiming that all possible power would be given to the board by regulation to enforce the provisions of the measure. He was sure that, though members might differ from him aud from, some of the details of the Bill, he was convinced they would endorse its principle, and place it on the Statute Book.

STABILISING MONEY VALUES. Sir John Findlay dealt at length with the proposals of Professor Irving Fisher, of Yale University, on stabilising our money values. The purchasing power of the sovereign had fallen all over the world. To-day it was only worth 13s 2d. Most people thought the war explained all this. That was not so, because there was a manifest increase in the cost of living before the war, and it would go on after the war unless we found some means of stabilising' the standard of money units. Our present troubles aros'j from the fact that our sovereign was not ■ standardised. It had* no standard value, .as the only thing about it which the State guaranteed was that it must, contain a certain weight in gold. It was, in fact, almoßt the only thing in Christendom which was not standardised, as all our weights and measures bad been What we had to do was to reverse our present order of procedure by having, instead of the sovereign of fixed weight in gold, a sovereign of fixed purchasing power, and therefore of fluctuating weight in gold. He recognised" any change in our money system was difficult to achieve, because so many people thought' any such suggestion was scandalous, and it sometimes required a revolution to effect the desired changes, as in the case of the French Revolution, which gave France her metric system, which we should adopt. He hoped the great war would so enlighten us as to enable us to see the necessity for many changes in our financial system, for the cause of the rise in the cost of living was the instability of standard values. Strikes and many other causes were, he said, not the rort of the increased prices. There was no doubt that they did contribute, but only in a small degres. The real root cause was the diminishing purchasing power of our money standard. For the future we should purchase commodities on the basis of index numbers, which should be fixed every three months. No gold coin should be issued, but gold

or diminished gold value, according to rise or fall in the value of commodities should he used as purchasing medium*. He recognised the subject was too intai* cate to be made clear in all its details in one short speech, but he hoped he had enlisted the interest of members, and he hoped the Government would watch the proceedings of the commissions which were investigating it in other countries, and later on we should have a commission of experts in New Zealand to investigate it for ourselves. Mr. Malcolm contended that the increased prices were due to the great universal shortage of necessary commodities. Ho believed our real remedy was the practice of economy. ■ The Hon. Buddo combatted Mr. Malcolm's idea of rigid economy as the remedy of our troubles. He advocated it reasonable standard of comfort as the best means of keeping our market* and the demand for our commodities. The Hon. Hunan said the land was the food store of the world. Therefore, small holdings were the remedy for the high cost of living, because thereby inereMed production would be stimulated, which was, in the meantime, linked up with increased population. Mr, £ll thought the Bill wu capable of doing a great good for the people' of the Dominion. He hoped that M soon as the Act was signed by the Governor the board would be aet up and put to work to cheapen the cost of living, and so let the people indulge in the oldfashioned idea of a home. Ont the motion of the Hon. W. D. Mao Donald, the debate was adjourned till Tuesday, and the House rose at 10.85.