THE COST OF LIVING.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1919, Page 6

THE COST OF LIVING.

A NOTABLE PRONOUNCEMENT. (From Our Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Sept. 23. The most notable pronouncement made on the cost of living question since tho meeting of Parliament came yesterday from the Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald, in the course of an interview with the reporters. In addition to being Minister of Mines and Minister of Agriculture, two offices closely concerned with production and prices, Mr. Mac Donald was acting-president of the Board of Tr:ldc during Mr. Massey's long absences from the Dominion, and in this edacity, obtained a closer acquaintance with "this pressing problem than did any of his colleagues. It was particularly unfortunate, therefore, when his own Board of Trade Bill, now fathered by Mr. Massev, made its appearance in the House of Representatives, he should have been unable, on account of his recent accident, to give the Prime Minister active assistance in piloting it on the ■Statute Hook. For a task of this kind Mr, Mac Donald has very special qualifications. With few of the superficial graces of the politician, and none of the tricks, he has all the more solid gifts of his race—tireless industry, practical commonsense, and ready sympathy—which enable him to get'to the bottom of things much quicker and much more certainly than dq most of his contemporaries. RISE IN PRICES, Mr. Mac Donald does not go back to the first year of the war to suggest what might have been done towards restraining thj soaring prices Wore 4 representatives of his party were induced to enter the Cabinet. He concerns himself solely with the efforts of the Nationaf Government and the Board of Trade during the period for which he accepts his full share of responsibility, and shows that compared with other countries New Zealand has suffered lightly from the declining purchasing power of the sovereign. The figures are familiar to many people, but still will bear repetition. South Africa has experienced a rise in prices of 35 per cent., New Zealand 40 per cent., Australia 4,1 per cent., India 51 per cent., Spain 51 per cent., United States C!> per cent., Canada 70 per cent., Danmark SG per cent., Holland 103 per cent., Great Britain 10" per cent,, Switzerland 139 per cent., Portugal 151 per cent,. France lfiO per cent., Italv ll>7 per cent., Norway 175 per cent., and Sweden 234 per cent. But though Mr. Mac Donald quotes these fiffures by way of demonstrating that New Zealand has escaped more lightly than the older countries have from the economic disturbances of the war, he does not /laim that this is entirely due to the efforts of the National Government and the Board of Trade. He gratefullv admits there were other factors at work, but. he resents the suggestion that nothing has been done to facilitate their operation. WHAT HAS SEEN ACCOMPLISHED.

Here he well may bg. left to speak on behalf of himself and his associates. "The fact that the cost of living has not increased in New Zealand to the same, extent a's it has in other countries is due in a large extent," lie contends, "to the measures taken by the National Government, through the Board of Trade, to stabilise prices. The Government, for instance, controlled the price of wheat, and its products, Hour, bran, pollard, and bread. It controlled the prices of meat, wool, butter, and cheese, through its system of purchases as agent for the Imperial Government. It controlled the supply and price of sugar by arrangement with the Colonial Sugar Company. Through the Board of Trade it controlled tho supply and price of petroleum products. It controlled the price of milk, fixing in some instances maximum prices; it controlled the price of 'bacon and ham, and under agreement with the wholesale merchants, it steadied the prices of fifty-seven main grocery commodities, many of which are imported from overseas and are frequently in short supply. And it did all this at a eery small expenditure of public money." This, it must be admitted, is no small achievement in the circumstances, and it is characteristic of Mr. Mac Donald that while most of the work he mentions was done at his own personal instigation, he gives the whole of the credit to the National Government and the Board of Trade.