THE COST OF LIVING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 167, 16 July 1936, Page 6

THE COST OF LIVING.

In Tuesday evening's "Star" there are two assessments of the cost of living. One from tlie Trades and Labour Council, and the other from the Boilermakers' Federation. The manner in which your paper has itemised the boilermakers' assessment is inclined to he rather misleading to the casual observer, as to him it would appear we claimed £4 7/5 as a wage which would comfortably keep a man, his wife and two children. Xow that is not so, as a careful study of our assessment will show that we claim £G a week as a reasonable living wage. Another point I wish to emphasise is that since we drew up the said assessment the price of commodities lias been steadily 011 the ascendant, so much so that I think if we added another 10/ to our claim we would still be very far short of being able to live like "American millionaires," as the Minister of Labour recently said he would like to see us able to do. 111 conclusion, I wish to criticise two items in tlie Trades and Labour Council's assessment. By so doing I .hope to show how utterly ridiculous its assessment really is. It only allows a man, his wife and three children one dozen eggs at 1/6 a dozen, and one pound of-bacon at 1/ a pound per week. Surely the council must have tree'u considering a family which was 011 a •'diet when it made such an absurd allowance as that. My own opinion (and I tljink manymore will agree with me) is that there cannot, or there will not. be too many hearty breakfasts on a weekly allowance of one dozen eggs and one pound of bacon between five people. J. McG. KAyE, President, Boilermakers' Federation.