COST OF LIVING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10563, 20 February 1912, Page 4

COST OF LIVING.

The m 0 f how to live is beaming more perplexing in New Zealand every day. Politicians have promised that, by the setting up of a Royal Co remission, or by tho waving of a magic wand, they will cause house rents to come down and prices to fall like the leaves in autumn. I But, alter all, these are only promises. They are little baits sent, out to capture tho unwary. Everybody who has watched the trend of events must know that nothing in this world will make prices come down unless it be a reversion to that state of society in which each individual recognises his individual responsibility, and strives to increase the production. At- the present time it costs almost as much to produce a ton of flour as it did two tons a. few years back. We Have the same soil, the same climate, the same rainfall as before; but our production instead of increasing as it should do, with the spread of science, is gradually diminishing. In other words, we are educating ourselves to that pitch that wo ibelieve we can do without work. It is the disregard for thrift and industry, and the cultivation of luxurious habits, which is making tho cost of living in this country so awful a burden. So soon as we got back to work, and realise that without it we cannot live, so soon will the burden of life be lessened.