COST OF LIVING.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 112, 13 May 1924, Page 4

COST OF LIVING.

FOOD GROUPS' INDEX NUMBER. , ELEVEN POINTS INCREASE. Reporting upon retail prices, the Government Statistician, in the Monthly Abstract of Statistics, states:— I "The index number for the three food ' groups combined as at March 15 is 1601, an increase of eleven points as compared , with that for the previous month 1 (1590) and an increase of 49.63 per cent. las compared with the figure for July, 1914. Prices in the groceries groups have remained practically stationary, the index number for March (1797) being one point less than that for February. The rise of 46 points in the dairy-products group has been caused by ■ a rise in the price of milk in some of ! the larger towns and a considerable increase in the price of eggs in most towns. Very little movement has been recorded in prices in the meat group; the rise of two points being due to increases in one or two minor items." j The latest available figures for the ■ principal countries publishing statistics ' for retail prices of food are as shown jin the following table:—

South Africa Holland (Amster.) Canada United Stntes New Zealand India (Bombay)... Australia Sweden United Kingdom.. Denmark Norway France (Paris) Ttalv (Milan) Finland Comparison between July 1914, and Jan., 1924 Nov., 1923 Feb., 1024 Jan.. 1024 Mar., 1924 Feb., lf)24 Mar., 1924 Feb., 1024 Mar., 1024 Jan., 1S24 Feb., 1021 Jan., 1924 Jan., 1024 Dec, 1923 Inc. per cent. 20 ir, 46 r.o M 62 7fi 04 1S4 276 416 953