H.—44.

4

These costs as a proportion of the total cost have generally shown little movement during the war period. Such commodities as oil, soap, coal, machine furnishings, <&0., have all increased in price to a substantial extent during recent years. It is quite impossible to give any concise or accurate statement of these increases, but evidence produced in respect of one mill shows increases ranging from over 100 per cent, for coal to several hundreds per cent, for relatively unimportant commodities. As a specimen statement, of the dissection of mill costs the following table is given: —

It, will be seen from the foregoing particulars that the mill cost of production has been materially increased since 1914, and, as previously stated, this increase over all items of cost has been found to be, over an average of all classes of goods produced, not less than 70 per cent. In fact, although costs have increased by this percentage, it is claimed by several of the milling companies that the increase would probably have been somewhat higher but for savings effected in some directions. It has been pointed out by the companies that new and more efficient plant installed in several mills —particularly in the early years of the war —ha* had the effect of (1) increasing the output, and (2) lessening the tendency towards increased cost of manufacture. The increase in output has been effected in face of the ever-present difficulty in securing adequate labour power. Further than this, it is explained that the output has been increased by reason of the fact that competition from overseas lias been largely eliminated, and mills have been able to concentrate on the production of quickly produced classes of goods. In other words, specialization has been possible. This, as previously indicated, has tended towards reducing the cost of manufacture. The following figures are of interest, showing as they do the percentages of cost of manufacture (over the total manufacture of each of nine mills) represented in the years 1914, 1918, and 1919 by (1) wool, (2) wages, (3) dyes, and (4) other materials: —

Items in Production. Percentage of Mill Cost. Group Total. Value as on 31st December, 1919. Group I. s. 4 0 0 2 0 d. 0-75 5-36 3-80 2-56 3-37 Wool, &c. Dyes and chemicals Oil, soap, and materials other than chemicals Operatives' wages Coal 50-00 5-50 3-90 27-24 3-46 Group 2. Salaries and non-productiye, wages 90-10 0 4-05 Group 3. Repairs and maintenance, general expenses, depreciation Insurance 4-15 4-15 5-25 0-50 0 0 5-12 0-49 5-75 Totals .. 100-00 8 1*

Mill. Year. Wool. Wages. Dyes. Other Materials. n E 1914 1918 1919 1914 191.8 1919 1914 1918 1919 1914 1918 1919 1914 1918 1919 1914 1918 1919 1914 1918 1919 1914 1918 191.9 1914 1918 1919 45-36 46-82 50-27 52-10 58-75 59-83 53-08 61-28 54-30 55-83 56-45 57-94 48-53 59-44 55-68 48-97 56-72 52-36 53-03 61-60 50-63 56-74 63-70 58-74 71-69 75-99 72-82 38-63 36-50 32-49 34-32 29-31 27-61 31 -88 25-94 26-48 31-12 26-31 25-78 36-16 27-40 30-66 39-02 30-14 33-33 36-32 26-00 34-28 31-33 25-58 27-56 23-57 18-73 19-87 2-71 4-13 3-42 5-46 4-41 3-44 2-53 4-90 7-60 4-60 7-94 7-48 1-42 2-56 2-34 2-61 4-44 4-15 3-45 7-50 6-91 2-35 2-62 3-33 1-25 2-15 3-86 13-30 12-55 13-82 8-12 7-53 9-12 12-51 7-88 11-62 8-45 9-30 8-80 13-89 10-60 11-32 9-40 8-70 10-16 7-20 4-90 8-18 9-58 8-10 10-37 3-49 3-13 3-45