THE ARMING OF NATIONS

Evening Star, Issue 22632, 26 April 1937, Page 11

THE ARMING OF NATIONS

EFFECT m THE COST CF LIVING WIDESPREAD INCREASES Tho extent to which the cost of many commodities which figure on the average household budget has been affected by the armaments race—in a number or cases indirectly—is not generally realised (says the Christchurch ‘Press’).

For instance, the price of. soap- is appreciably higher than it was 12 months ago. This is because tallow, which forms the base of soap, is in extraordinary demand for the extraction of glycerine, which- enters into the composition of certain high explosives. In Germany of recent years the shortage of animal fats has been overcome by the extraction of glycerine from sugar; but this process is reported to be proving too expensive, with the result that Germany is again having recourse to tallow*;' thus intensifying the demand ■for this produce. Cotton piecegoods are soaring in .price, ..difficulty being encountered in filling certain orders, particularly from Japan; -The cause in this case is obvious, huge quantities of cotton being diverted to . the manufacture of guncotton, and, with wool, for clothing for troops. The dearness of cotton affects many lines in..addition to women’s dress materials. It has repercussions on the cost of many other manufactured articles,- including linings for boots and shoes arid for men’s suits.

The phenomenal increase in the price of base metals has, of course, led to sharp rises in the ,cost of innumerable manufactured articles required by the housewife, besides causing a shortage of structural steel used in many industries.

Tin enters' into the composition of so many containers of various food lines that its recent spectacular rises on the metals market are adding materially to the cost of living. Indeed, nearly all tined goods have advanced in price on this account during the last year. Tin kitchenware, too, costs more since the ’ war scare has prevailed. Everything that has copper in it—and a very large list could; be compiled of articles thus affected—has made substantial rises in price. Kitchen pots which • a year ago cost 10s are to-day priced at from 15s to 17s. Considerable delay is being experienced in obtaining delivery of orders for hollow ware, and up to five months’ delay is occurring in the execution of chinaware orders from Great Britain. The concentration of industrial energies on the manufacture of war materials' is a big factor in this situation. Only last week a Christchurch firm, in response to iti complaint about the nondelivery of a long-overdue order of English worsteds, was informed by the agents that the manufacturers had been compelled to “ let everything else slid© ” for the time being, because they had received a rush order for half a million, yards of khaki. Again, the increased cost of boots and shoes and other articles employing leather as their base is attributed in part to the fact that the great nations of the world arc busy accumulating huge stocks of soldiers’ footwear.

These are only a few of the many effects of the, armament rare on the cost of living in New Zealand.