LIVING DEARER.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 November 1920, Page 5

LIVING DEARER.

LAST RETURN SHOWS INCREASE. 72.80 PER CENT. SINCE 1914. By Telegraph.—i'ress Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Minister for Internal Affairs has supplied Mr. .1. McCombs . (M.P. for Lyttelton) with the September index numbers as follows: Groceries 2052, dairy produce 1745, meat 1004, weighted average of three food groups 1849, which represents an increase of 15 points over the August number. The increase per cent, for the combined groups over July, 1914, is 72.30. Commenting on these figures, Mr. McCombs said that the average increase for the quarter ended September, or the six months ended September, would, of course, be lower, but as the cost of living shows a very steady tendency to increase, he contended it would be obviously unfair to base the cost of living bonus on anything less than the September uionth figure, because that represents an increase m the cost of living which workers will have to face in coming months, even if the cost of living does not further increase month by month, as it shows evary indication of doing. ■ Mr. McCombs said that the increase in the price of buKer was not recorded in the September figures, and it should be allowed for. If the September mouth figure is used, and not the quarterly or six monthly average, and allowance made for butter prices, the bonus increase should not be less than 20 per cent as compared with the February six monthly «*wr«?