COST OF LIVING.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 July 1922, Page 2

COST OF LIVING.

- BASIS OF THE BONUS. . ! V .f-u —‘ (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.} Doubts as to whether the correct index figures were used in determining questions relating to the bonus were expressed by Mr. J. McCombs (Lyttelton) in the House of Representatives. The report of the Arbitration Court Judge stated that there had been an increase, compared with the pre-war rate, of 73.3 per cent, in the cost of living, as at March, 1920, whereas the increase, as shown by the figures of the Government Statistician, was 63 per cent, at that time. What was the correct percentage? The question was one that affected workers and public servants throughout the Dominion. Was the Judge, or the Statistician, right? The Prime Minister: I suppose the Judge got his information from the Statistician’s figures. The Minister for Internal Affairs (Mr. Downie Stewart) : The hon. member has just handed me a copy of his question. It is headed, ‘'Someone Has Blundered.” (Laughter.) The calculations, added the Minister, had been based' on the assumption that the cost of living had risen 62 per cent, at the time. | Mr. McCombs: They can’t both be right. j The Minister: It is immaterial. The hon. member knows that, in 1920, the information available was based on the three I food groups, largely or entirely. The fig- | tires were accepted by the Court and the I Statistician as correctly representing the { rise in the cost of living, and it was on I that basis that the discussion with the Civil Service took place, as to the bonus. Whatever calculations that may be made now did not affect it. The hon. member wanted to use either one basis or the other, accordingly as it suited him—on the swings, or on the roundabouts. (Laughter.) Mr. McCombs: You are dodging the question.