THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY. APRIL 11, 1907. AN INTERESTING COMPARISON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8392, 11 April 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY. APRIL 11, 1907. AN INTERESTING COMPARISON.

A short time ago a resident of Christchurch sent Home to a friend residing - at Acton, London, the return recently issued by the Labour Department, showing- the prices charged in the four chief centres of New Zealand for commodities of common consumption, and asked to be supplied, for the purposes of comparison,,with the prices usually charged at Home for similar goods. The information desired has now come to hand, and is distinctly interestiHg. Bread, which certainly ought to be as cheap in New Zealand as in England, costs 3d per 21b loaf in all the New Zealand centres, and 2Jd in London. Butter varies from Is Id to Is 4d per lb, and from Is 2d to Is 5d in London, but New Zealand butter can always be obtained there at Is per lb. In New Zealand flour is l'etailed at from 2s 7d to 2s lOd for 251b, and at from lis 2d to 4s for 281b at Home. But for a shilling a housewife can get a couple of pounds more flour in London than she can in Dunedin. Raisins and currants are. slightly cheaper in this colony than they are in England. Rolled oats and oatmeal are practically the same price. In London newlaid eggs are substantially cheaper than they are in Christchurch. Tea is on an average 4d a lb dearer at Home than it is in this colony, while coffee, on the other hand, is from 4d to 6d a lb cheaper. is about the same price in the two markets but kerosene costs nearly twice as much at Home as it does m the colonial towns. Coal may be bought at Ifis to HOs a ton in" London, and gas is supplied at 2s 9d per 1,000 feet. Home-grown meats are from 50 to 7-5 per cent, dearer than they are in Cb. istchurch; but frozen mutton may

ba bought at 5d per lb, and beef sausages at the same price. Manufactured goods are much cheaper in England than they are in New Zealand, and, generally speaking, rents are about 50 per cent, lower, /The foregoing figures certainly demonstrate that the great question in this country is the land question, which can only be properly dealt with by the inaugurating of an adequate policy of land settlement and an equitable system of taxation.