THE COST OF LIVING.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1922, Page 7

THE COST OF LIVING.

FALL IN AUSTRALIA,

NOVEMBER’S REDUCTION. Further reductions in the cost of food and groceries are reflected in the report of the Commonwealth Statistician in regard to investigations during November.

The present increase over 1914 for the Commonwealth is 46.5 per cent. Compared with October, there was a general decrease of 2 per cent. All the States showed decreases.

The reduction was greatest in New South Wales (2.7 per cent.), followed by Victoria (2.1 per cent.), Western Australia (1.8 per cent.), Tasmania (1.6 per cent.), South Australia (1.5 per cent.), and Queensland (0.2 per cent.) Compared with the corresponding month (November), 1920, the decrease was greatest in Victoria (24.1-per followed by South Australia (23.0 per cent.), New South Wales (22.1 per cent.), Tasmania (20.9 per cent.), Queensland (15.1 per cent.), and Western Australia (10.3 per cent.) The weighted average index number for the 30 towns considered as a whole was 1705 in November, 1921, compared with 2170 in November, 1920—a decrease of 21.4 per cent. The increase in cost since July, 1914, is now greatest in Queensland (57.0 per cent.), followed by Tasmania (50.5 per cent.), Victoria (49.5 per cent.), New .South Wales (48.0 per cent.), South Australia (35.2 per cent.), and Western Australia (30.7 per cent.). The increase ip cost in 30 towns considered as a whole, from July, 1914, to November, 1921, amounts to 46.5 p?r cent.