WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 17 March 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE COST OF LIVING. FURTHER ADVANCE.' (Special Correspondent), Wellington, March It A further advance in the price a£ bread, a threatened advance in tb# price of milk, and an inevitable advance in the prices of boots and many articles of clothing are straining the purses and (lis patience oi people with small fixed incomes to the utmost. A large pro* portion of the wage-camera, as distinguished from office and other indoor workers who prefer to call their salary, have obtained a certain measure of relief from an increase in their pay, l.nt even these aro beginning to discover, tlmt the confessions they have obtained from their employers are not ■sufficient to meet the increased Co3t of living. The railway men are rejecting Mr,. Jut* tice Stringer's proposals, because they hold them to he utterly inadequate to meet t.ljo needs of their position, and the mass of the community is disposed to support them in their contention.

WELLINGTON'S SPECIAL PLIGHT.

Wellington long before the war was a notoriously "dear place to live in," aod now it has reached a pass in this respect which ninny of the workers arc declaring to hp well night intolerable. But when the figures come to bo analysed it is found that the capital city, except in iho Tn.it.te. - of rout., is really no worse off than the other big centres of popular lion. In Auckland the riee in prices since the beginning of the war in thai three food .groups—groceries, dairy pro-* rttice and meat—has reached 51.28 per cent., in Wellington 62.17 per cent., in Christchurch 03.20 per cent., and in Dunedin (10.48 per cent. Of course, the price's were lower in Chriatchureh and Dnnedin to start with, and this makes the percentage advance all the larger, but. the index figures show, prices now c.re actually higher in these two cities than they 'are in the other two centre* A COMPARISON. The index figures for the three food groups, according to the Government Statistician's latest report, are Auckland IfiOfl, Wellington lfi2G, Chriatchurch 1642, and Dnnedin 10(14.' But when all the groups nre included, rent* fuel and lifbt, ns well as food, Auckland stands at 1411, Wellington at 1518, Christchurch at 1435, and Dnnedin at 1431, Strangely enough, to the unitiated, meat j* murh mor" costly in Christchurch and Dnnedin than it is in the two northern cities, the index: figures for Christchurch being 1784, and for Dunedin 1700, while the index figure for Auckland is 1025' and for Wellington 1522. In rent, however, Wellington soars above all its contemporaries, its index ligure heinjj 1321, while those for Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin are 1055, 10.17, and lflOfl respectively. Obviously if Wellington people would live in tents and sustain themselves on meat their city would be the cheapest place of residence, under similar conditions, within the Dominion-

THE STAFF OF LIFE. The latest blow to housewives here—the 'last straw, as some of them ara declaring—is the advance in the price of bread. The Boai'd of Trade and the millers and baker* at their conference in Christchurch appear to have agreed upon .an advance of two-pence in the price of the four pound loaf, but this n-fts more than the Prime Minister* could sanction, and after a prolonged' conference with the bakers he has arranged that the advance shall be only one penny for a month an<l at tha end of that period the position shall be reviewed. Meanwhile the bakers art to furnish to the Board of Trado detailed' accounts of the cost of manufacture end: to be allowed to collect a farthing for, the delivery of the two pound loaf.? Independent experts are divided as to! what the ultimate outcome will be, but "'c bakers insist they will be carrying! ca at a loss.