THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1911. THE COST OF LIVING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10450, 16 October 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1911. THE COST OF LIVING.

The Government proposes, should it again be returned to power, to set up a Conumissiou to investigate the economic conditions and their bearing upon the cost of living. Singularly enough, the proposal first emanated from tne Opposition. It is tolerably certain, therefore, that whichever Party is returned at the coming polls, one of the firist steps taken will b> to investigate the problem which affects every section of the community, more or less, i.e., the problem of liaw to live. It is impossible to deny that, during the Lust couple of decades, the coat of living has enormously increased in New Zealand. Whether this has been the result of the fiscal system, the higfh prices ruling for produce at Home, the increase in wages, the operations of trusts, or of other causes, is matter for speculation. Some will argue one way and some nnotfher, but no convincing data is .furnished in support of either theory. Meanwhile, the man with a family has the trutli forced upon him daily that a pound wall not go nearly as far to-day as it did a couple of decades ago. The cost of almost every .necessary of life lnas increased, and the indications are for further increases in the future. Unless prompt measures are taken to restore the economic equilibrium, the .problem of existence will become most acute. The Socialists see a remedy in tthe nationalization of the means of production. The Single-taxers would place a greater burden upon .the land. The Labourites claim .that political power for the Worker Avlonld relieve the tension. The propaganda of others is scattered .broadcast. But the cosit of living goes up and up. Can it be that the value of money is not what it whs, and that tine labourer and mechanic are to blame for reducing instead of increasing the power of production ? Thiis miay be an explanation of the position. In any case, the matter is one which will have to be faced, and faced immediately. The idea of the Opposition, to reduce public extravagances and offer inducements to thrift and industry, strikes one as rational. A Royal Commission, or a Council of Industry, as .suggested by Sir John Findlay, could not well do more than investigate the causes of

the- present position. The application of a remedy would rest with those who are charged with the 'Control of tlie public revenues and the affairs of State. Aji important phase of the discussion, and one which Ministers will have to meet, is the fact that the present intolerable position h*ai developed under a Liberal administration, an administration which has claimed to be of the people and for the .people. The , electors should not lose sigjht of this fact.. If it has taken twenty-one years of Liberal administration to produce industrial chaos, how long will it take to produce a "God's own country"!' Can tihe constituencies! reasonably expect reform from a party which has .permitted things to drift into •their present condition?