COAL, MEAT, AND BREAD.

Evening Post, Volume LXVI, Issue 20, 23 July 1903, Page 6

COAL, MEAT, AND BREAD.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir— lt is needless to say that the above trio form, the principal necessaries of life and should be supplied at a reasonable price ; yet such is not the case. General dissatisfaction exists on account of the abnormally high prices charged. Why is ib so? Why should we pay from thirty to a>hundred per cent, more for such necessaries now and for some time past than was paid years ago? The arguments used by the supporters of present prices are high wages and high house-rents, but that is not the real cause, because house-rents are not higher now than they were twenty years back, neither is unskilled labour higher except when overtime attains. It is true that skilled labour is a trifle higher, yet that should 1 not cause the evil complained of. The secret of it is that between the producer and consumer there is an unnecessary leakage whioh causes injustice to both parties, aoid which should be remedied. A similar evil hi the Motherland years ago gave birth to the present extensive and satisfad;ory co-operative works, and will do likewise here if not remedied. The people of this country should at once, either through the agency of the State, the municipality, or by private co-operation, seek to break down the barrier which stands, between the producer and consumer. So far as the coal is concerned it is satisfactory to know th*t when the Sba.te coal enterprise is further matured we shall have one evil remedied, and it is to be hoped that by one or other of the ways named the other .evils will also be remedied. It is surprising to find among supporters of the present state of affairs men who masquerade in the garb of Liberals. It is also strange that the press, professing to seek only the good of the people, does not deal more pointedly with this important matter. — I am, etc., J. JAMIESON. Wellington, 18th July, 1903.