INCREASE IN PRICES

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LIX, Issue 87, 1 November 1938, Page 7

INCREASE IN PRICES

FORTY PER CENT. ON FOOD-

STUFFS

TREND DURING THREE YEARS

With the prices of widely-used supplies up by about 40 per cent., and with an advance of 117 per cent, in salaries and wages, in comparison with conditions in the first half of the 1935 financial year, the rising trend in the cost of living is indicated in the financial statements of the Auckland Hospital Board for the six months prior to September 30. As the purchaser of large quantities of common household goods and the employer of several distinct types of labour, the board's experience is regarded as a fair criterion of conditions throughout the community, says the Herald.

Rising prices, reduced hours and increased wages are the main reasons advanced for the increase from £10/5/9 in 1935 to £16/16/7 in the cost of treating each of the patients admitted to the institution. In the first six months of 1935, when 6754 patients were treated, payments amounted to £69,486, as compared with 7470 patients at a cost of £125,841 in the corresponding period of this year.

Comparison with 1935

On the costs side there have been some striking increases in commonlyused utilities, and for nine commodities which are purchased in large quantities by the hospital authorities £38,149 is required this year, whereas the same supplies could be obtained for £27,254 in 1935. The advance over these nine articles is calculated at 40 per cent. The following table shows the effect of increased prices, as compared with 1935, for nine of the main contract lines based on this year's requirements:— 1935 1938 Increase

Higher Salaries Paid Considerable differences are shown in the percentage of increase in the salaries for different sections of the 'staff, as compared with those which ruled in 1935. In the case of domestics the advance is calculated at 214 per cent., while the amounts paid to orderlies and to nurses have in each case advanced by over 100 per cent. Salaries for the . medical staff have risen by 77 per cent., while for the institution's engineering services there has been a 23 per cent, increase. ' The position is illustrated in the following table, which gives the salaries and wages paid for the first six months of the years 1935 and 1938:—

£29,131 £63,158 In the case of the Infirmary, the average cost per occupied bed this year has been £59/12/5, as compared with £43/15/11 for the first six months of 1935. However, while no extra buildings have been added, rearrangement of the accommodation has permitted an increasing number of patients to be treated, so raising the total cost.

£ £ £ Bacon Butter 1,031 3,039 1,478 4,168 44' 1,12! Bread 3,580 4,708 .1,12! Coal 6,860 9,380 2,52i Fish 1,502 2,382 88i Fowls 1,273 2,030 75' Meat 4,457 6,342 1,881 Milk 3,031 5,156 2,121 X-ray films 2,481 2,505 2 £27,254 £38,149 £10,891

1935 1938 £ £ ledical Fursing 6,112 11,654 10,810 23,527 •rderlies 5,015 13,278 •omestics 4,028 12,675 Ingineers 2,322 2,869