COST OF LIVING IN FRANCE

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27993, 13 June 1956, Page 6

COST OF LIVING IN FRANCE

Liquor And Scooters Put In Index (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, June 11. French Government statisticians who are trying to establish cost-of-liv-ing index have decided that cognac aperitifs, chickens, scooters and bee. are staple items sufficiently i m porta n to the average Frenchman to b< reckoned in their calculations, says the "New York Herald Tribune” Contin ental edition.

These have not been included before in the 213 items that enable statisticians to determine how the Frenchman spends his money and what he gets for it. Latest studies- indicate that liquors and stimulants have jumped from 7.5 per cent, of his expenditures to 11 per cent, and they particularly note liquid items consumed in caffes, such as cognac, aperitifs and beer.

The sharpest rise has been for “personal means of transport” such as bicycles, scooters and motor-cycles, which jumped from 0.5 per cent, to 4 per cent.

Studies by the National Institute of Statistics show that of 1000 francs the average Frenchman spends 492 francs on food, 59 for light and heat, 240 for manufactured products, 182 for services, and 27 for particular items such as tobacco and newspapers. More is spent for housing, less for haircuts, and hair styling, and more for clothing.