IN BRITAIN. THE COST OF LIVING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3584, 19 October 1916, Page 2

IN BRITAIN. THE COST OF LIVING.

DISCUSSION (N THE COMMONS.

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Service.) LONDON, October 17. in tbo House oi Commons Mr G. K. Barnes raised the question of food pnoes. He said that tho time fcacV conic- for the appointment of a Food Minister. It might y o c be necessary to have food tickets. A Food Commission should havo the ixwer to fix prices. The high prices of bacon and miik constituted a public danger, and were due .to- market rafinipulatione. There- was great waste ori the part oi" farmers, who had sometimes given thoir milk to tho pigs or thrown it down drains in order to maintain prices. , '

Mr George Lambert snid that ther-o threatened to be a .serious shortage of home-grown supplies •in the " eomiup year owing to the withdrawal of 30 Descent, of labour.

Mr W. Runcimah. President of the Boaj-d of Trade, said that. th« Government was prepared to take any steps to prevent the exploitation of food. Ho pointed out that tho raised prices wer© partly due to the munition arid other well-paid workers demanding the best cuts of moats, and the host of other food. The consuming rapacity of the people had very largely increased. The tr.'iw-lor.s weiv now trawling for mines instead of for fish. Eggs, whichwere formerly imported, from Btissiaj could not now be "secured, and this cutting-off Of supplies raided prioes.. Ho was making arrangement.^ with the War Office to provido the Farmers with sufficient milkers, and would take steps to make it v t.Ttniina) oAV'iico to wilfully ' destroy milk. Tin* (.'nw.'-inr.crt h:ii taken steps to keep down the prico of moat, and had made arrangements to get more supplies for the retail trade than ever before. The Government's purchases already amounted to ■£.16,000,000. We wore supplying the Italian and French armies, in addition to ihe Army. We had eliminated the middlemen's, profit and had strictly limited the merchants' profit. Tho Government had taken steps to'keep up the necessary margin in tho supply of wheat. Sir Edward Carson interjected: Hass there been any exploitation in wheat? Mr Runciman: Absolutely no. The' : evidence of that is shown by our ar- ■ i rangements, with Australia. I Mr Runciman stated that by tho arrangement with Australia, they had a very largo amount of wheat in Ban<s ; and were prepared to extend their operations. l The best way, continued Mr Runciman, to ensure tho quickest despatch was to pay for the carriage of wheat on the basis of a voyage charter, thus giving an incentive to all concerned to run their vessels quickly. Out of a total of 10,000 vessels only 1100 oceangoing vessels wero freo to conduct their own operations. The Admiralty had agreed with many directors to utilise fow.er vessels. The great bulk of, the mercantile marine was', under control, 'and only a small- fraction' run-, ning on freo:; rates, of which .only" GO wefo bringing •■foodstuffs. These fact's ought to be known in view of tho hubbub about, the- ques Li on. Freights had very-little to do with the cost of food. For example, in Canadian 'cheese, which was from fourpenco to 'fivepence per pound higher, the cost of• freight represented only a half-penny. The real cause was tho shortage of shipping, but tho Government was doing its.,best to assist the construction of new vessels with .^ all , possible rapidity. We had lost during the war period, as the result of. enemy actionand ordinary . marine risks, 2,000,000 gross tons of shipping, which was more thaiv the entire mercantile marino -oi France, Spain, or Italy before tho war 1; The Allies' losses had also been heavy. He believed that tho Government hail doalt with these . problems ■ on' • righi> lines. We must avoid putting our--1 selves, in tho position of a blockaded people. Bread tickets and .moat card;, were all. artificial arrangements and harmful to those who wero least able to bear them.

Mr Runciman-said that the meat transactions meant the use of an enormous amount of insulated tonnage. The present amount required for ■ the River Plato was 4^0,000 tons a year, while ' that for Australia ' was * stiff greater. The Government had to readjust prices with the Australinn Government, owing to tho. increased working costs, but there had. been. no iccrcaso to ship-owners simv, the war began. They must continue on the same rate until the war was ovor. The correct value of tho moat purchased was £60,000,000. ,