THEN AND NOW

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 228, 27 June 1928, Page 10

THEN AND NOW

CHANGES SINCE 1906 Hung on the wall near the public counter in the Labour Departments office is a price list of commodities and rents of working men’s houses as prevailing in mid-winter ( AuguM,). 1906, and they make xery different reading from the price lists of to-daj. In Wellington bread was 3d. a >- loaf butter Is. Id. to Is. od. pel lb., jam 6d. lb., Hour 251 b. 2s. jFI-, new mid e""S Is. dozen, sugar 561 b. bag 11s., bacon (middle cut) 9d., fish 2d. and 3d. lb., milk -Id. quart, coal <s. 6 - to 10s. quarter ton, sirloin beet id. lb mutton 3d. to 5d., pork od., woikiue men’s boots 9s. pair, potatoes and other vegetables and fruit are much the same) Rents in Wellington were quoted at:—Four rooms 14s. to 18s live rooms ISs. to 255., six rooms -aS. to 305., seven rooms 255. to 30s. Boots and shoes were considerably cheaper then, while boot repairs are oO pel cent higher to-day. A reference tn the household guide published m this issue will show how to-days prices compare with those ot 22 years a B o. Rents to-day are fully double those ot S Close by are pictures of houses erected under the New Zealand Nolkers’ Dwellings Act in 1911, when a prize of £75 was offered lor plans The winning plans at I’ctone showed that four types of four and tne-room-ed houses were erected—one ot two stories—at a cost of trom £oi>-> to £3SB, and the rents ranged tio.n 10s. 6d. to 11s. 3d., insurance included. About Hie same period two semidetached villas were erected in Coromandel Street, Wellington, each of six rooms, and were let at las. 3d. ner week each. A striking commentary upon the cost of building and rents sixteen years later!