DEARER LIVING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 4, 16 October 1940, Page 6

DEARER LIVING.

PRICES RISE IN BRITAIN.

EVERYONE AFFECTED

LONDON, August 15

Every person in Britain has been directly affected by the war. The cost of living has risen greatly, but thousands of people have more money to spend. Food, even since June 1, is Is 2d in the pound dearer. Cigarettes now cost 9d for lOd and Is s£d for 20, instead of Gd and Is. Beer is now 6d a half-pint, and Is a pint. A' year ago it was 4id and 9d. Women’s stockings are a shilling a pair dearer. Shoes cost about 2s more a pair, Women’s underwear is rising steadily in price. In a month or two, when the new purchase tax comes into force, there will be an increase in the price of many other articles, such as furs, silks, hats, umbrellas, glassware, porcelain, cameras, toys, footwear, furniture, musical instruments and wireless sets. Fares and Cinemas. The average man going to work now finds that his fares cost more. There are no longer penny fares on the motor buses or on the, underground railways. The minimum is lid. The man and his wife find that their local cinema costs them more. The 6d seats are now 9d. The financial strain has been felt chiefly by people with fixed incomes who have received no increase since the war started. They are paying more in income tax, while the rebent Budget will mean innumerable increases in the price of daily purchases. Taking an income of £3OO a year, a single person now has to pay £37 10s income tax instead of £l2 12s; a married couple £2O instead of £5; a married couple with one child £7 10s instead of nothing. Married couples with two children are still exempt. The rise in the price of food has taken place in spite of Government subsidies. Bread and flour are subsidised by £590,000 a week, home produced meat by £315,000 and bacon by £IOO,OOO a week. These three subsidies total about £52,000,000 ; a year. In addition, the provision of free, milk to expectant mothers and to < school children costs about £7,500,000 a year. On the other hand, there have also been substantial wage increases. Since the beginning of the war the weekly full-time wage rates in the industries reporting to the Ministry of Labour have increased by £2,230,000. These are returns of normal wage rates, and not of earnings, so that they do not include overtime or other rates in excess of the normal. Nor, on the other hand, do they allow for loss of earnings through unemployment. The figures do not include the increases in the rates of wages in agriculture and other work.