DIFFERENT PRICES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 27 November 1913, Page 4

DIFFERENT PRICES.

The current- number of tho Labuor Journal contains an interesting table showing tho prices charged for commodities in coramdn use in the four chief centres of the Dominion from which the Lyttelton Times draws the following comparison :—Some of the differences aro striking, and to the uninitiated layman quite inexplicable. Butter, for instance, is dearer in Christchurch than it is in any of the other cities, the price here being Is 5d per pound, while in Wellington and Dunedin it is Is 4d and in Auckland Is 3d. The two-pbujMJ- loaf in Auckland is 4d, in Wellington and Christchurch 3Jd and in Dunedin 3d. Oatmeal is Is 3d per 71b in Wellington and Christchurch, and Is 2d in Auckland and Dunedin. Bacon (mid-dle-cut) shows a wider rango, the price in Christchurch being lo£d per pound, in Dunedin Is Id, in Auckland Is lid and in Wellington Is 2d. Milk is 3%d per quart in Auckland and 4d per quart in the other three centres. Gas shows the greatest variation of all, the price being 4s 3d per 1000 feet in Auckland, 5s in Dunedin, 5s 5d in Wellington, and 5s 9d in diri&itchurch. Meat generally *is cheaper in Christchurch than in the other centres, and vegetables as well, while fruit is dear everywhere at this season of the year. House rents are highest in Wellington, where 16s to 18s a week is charged for a. fourroomed cottage, and 24s to 30s for a ■Hx-roomed house, while in Auckland the charges are 10s to 15s and 18s to 27s 6d respectively, in Christchurch 8s to 15s and 15s to 22s 6d, and in Dunedin 8s to, 15s and 15a to 235. Altogether, Christchurch and Dunedin aoem to be rather cheaper places to livo in than Auckland is, and considerably cheaper than Wellington. The capital city makes a heavy levy upon its people for the privilege living under the shelter of Parliament House in the company of Ministers of the Crown and distinguished public servants. 1