SOARING PRICES.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 October 1920, Page 6

SOARING PRICES.

POSITION IN ENGLAND. . CLOTHES TO COST MORE. BREAD AT Is 4d PER LOAJF. London, August 19. It is expected that people in this country will have to pay further increased prices for clothes next summer. At present Britain is the only country which is producing woollen goods of good quality, and not only has the trade to supply the home demand, but it is being bombarded with orders from abroad. It is estimated that 75 per cent of the goods manufactured here will be Sfent into the foreign markets. As goods required for the summer of 1921 had to be ordered in the early months of 1920, and as the cost had to be based on the extremely high prices ruling during these months,, the prices next year will probably be 500 per cent to 600 per cent more than pre-war prices. Material that in pre-war years cost 6s per yard cannot be bought from the manufacturers today under 30s per yard. The price of the quartern loaf is to beincreased by 3d next month, and the whole of the subsidy is to be removed before the end of the financial year. Should the price of wheat remain at its present level the State will continue for seven months to contribute something to keep down the price of the loaf, but the present drain on the Exchequer has apparently been regarded as too heavy, and the public must therefore be prepared to pay Is 3Jd or Is 4d for 41b of bread very shortly. Unless the outlook improves the quartern loaf may cost Is 6d next spring, or three times the average price obtaining in 1914. The wealthy classes are small bread-eaters, and under a subsidy* they have contributed to the baker's bill of the artisan. "With the high wages let them pay for their own bread," is the view taken in some quarters, and the policy of the Government will give effect to that view. Government butter is to be raised from 2s 8d to 3s per lb. For fresh farm butter the price has already advanced to 3s \9d per lb, and when the price of milk goes up British butter will probably cost 4s 6d to 5s per lb. Germans, French, and even Americans are now competing with Great Britain for the available Danish butter, and are offering a higher price than this country has recently been paying. Irish bacon is nowdbeing retailed at 3s Cd per lb, and prime cuts of English bacon are fetching as much as 4s 6d per lb. English Cheshire cheese is being sold at 2s a lb, and Stilton at 2s 6d, but these prices may very soon be advanced. With regard to eggs the outlook for the winter is not hopeful. Since the prohibition of the sale of alcoholic drinks in America there has been an increase in the demand for ice-cream, and the egg is an ingredient in some varieties of ices. This could hardly account by itself for the call for so many more eggs, but whatever the reason American buyers are now said to be searching the world's markets to augment the Home supplies. Egyptian eggs last winter were the cheapest available, and on account of their larger yolk in comparison witli other eggs they were regarded as good values. Eggs at a reasonable price from Egypt would provide a check on the- price of the home-produced egg, which even at present is being sold at the rate of 5s fid a dozen. The sugar ration has been increased from So/., to 12oz. per head per week, and the public are now enabled to obtain "free" sugar for domestic-preserving purposes if they like to pay from Is sj|d to Is 7Jd per lb for it. Retail prices for rationed sugar stand at from Is 2d to Is 2Jd per lb.