COST OF LIVING

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 10, 11 July 1912, Page 8

COST OF LIVING

AN ECONOMIST'S VIEW PROFESSOR MILLS BEFORE THE COMMISSION. Some views upoa the economic principles involved regarding the cost of living were submitted to the Cost of Living Commission by Professor W. T. Mills to-day. Human life, said the professor, was supported only by the expenditure of human energy in the production of the means of life. . Production was complete only when the thing produced or the service rendered was finally delivered and not sold again. Consumption was the reward of production; all consumers ought to be producers. AH" producers ought to have the opportunity to be consumers. The only ifling which could command the ser^^es. of production without renderiwj?-' services in production was prijjstegS. The , cost of production, and X*nsequently the cost of living, measi**^ by the expenditure of- human o^wgy. had been greatly reduced "in recent years, .and was rapidly fcOing at this time. Professor Mills •-then enlarged on. the economic principle of exchange of services. Just prices, he proceed* J, would always enable producers to" obtain for their products, and to obtain their supplies in return, at a rate which would be a just and equal exchange for services in producing the thing sold for services in producing the thing purchased. Prices were determined in three way* : (1) By competition among those making the sales; (3) , by mutual agreement among all parties interested ; (3) or by the power of monopoly. Competitive prices tended to fall to a level practically at the cost of production. The only power to raise the selling price above the cost of production was the power of private monopoly. There were other items which entered into the cost of services, as now rendered which might be eliminated : (1) Imperfect equipment in production ; this wae the age of machinery, and yet. most workers ; were employed with rude and imperfect equipment, and "almost entirely without the benefits of modern industrial organisation in this country. "Team" work in boot factories here was impos- ! sible, because- of the few '-workers. The whole bread business of Wellington would be insufficient to employ a com-pletely-equipped; up-to-date bakery. The I cheapest possible' way to provide for dej livery was- not to abandon household seryice, but to organise effectively household delivery. Whatever .influence gold might have had on prices could not explain any 'differences that had arisen in the selling price' of commodities: The only explanation why one class of prices should .increase more rapidly than the other was to be found in the fact of private monopoly. The remedies sug-gested-were: The public appropriation of ground rents and the abolition of> all taxes. The appropriation .of » grounds ought not to' be undertaken except upon ■ «ome' basis which would protect all- in- | vestments in unimproved land values from anything like public appropriation without just remuneration. Nothing in New Zealand called more for centralisation and systematic management, proceeded Professor Mills; than the matter, of • transportation, • both between this country and other countries, and within the country , iteelf. Speaking for New Zealand alone, the coastal service, the railways, the tramways, the express business, and tbe.delivery lorries, should all be combined in a single central public service: In international transportation and in international markets, we entered upon grounds, where New 1 Zealand could not' act without the cooperation of other countries, and we could not act effectively. -.Co-operation should be -sought. In the of Australia, it could easily be obtained. It' was frequently said that the cost of living bad been raised because the standard of living had been raised. The cost of producing the means of living had been greatly reduced ; the state of living had not been "correspondingly increased. But the recommendation m effect to lower the standard of living and lecjjen its conveniences in order to keep down the cc«t of living, was not to be | tolerated. •