THE ROBBER IN THE KITCHEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 September 1943, Page 3

THE ROBBER IN THE KITCHEN

FACTS AND FIGURES THAT GET THE GOVERNMENT RATTLED Nothing in the election campaign has got the Fraser Government so badly rattled as the PLAIN UNVARNISHED FACTS about the rise in the cost of living. When prices of everyday com-] modifies have been quoted showing the absurdity of claims to have kept livingcosts under control, the Fraser propaganda machine has been put to work at once in an effort to refute the damaging evidence. However, the task is hopeless. The Government has tried all sorts of devices to disguise the rise in costs, which began LONG BEFORE THE WAR. In efforts to delude the public, it has authorised the sale of shortweight loaves, it has allowed the increase in costs on low-priced articles to be loaded on to more expensive though equally necessary lines, and it has ladled out big subsidies, condemned by the Economic Stabilisation Committee as “dangerous,” in order to conceal the real position. Back in 1939. BEFORE THE WAR, prominent Trades Unionists like F. P. Walsh and Peter Butler wore getting worried about the effect of soaring living costs on the worker’s budget. Today they soft-pedal that issue, but consumers can’t be fooled any longer. Labour’s invisible wage cuts have gone on long enough. VOTE NATIONAL.— Advt.