COST OF LIVING.

Evening Star, Issue 22892, 25 February 1938, Page 12

COST OF LIVING.

TO THE EDITOH. Sir, —Mrs Herbert has found a grocer with a different price list from that supplied by Mr Hargest’s grocer. Had she done so prior to writing her original letter to you, there might have been some small’ justification for that part of her letter dealing with Mr Hargest’s comparative price list. Mr Hargest’s list still stands. , It is not proved wrong, but I think he made a mistake, from his point of view, in not applying to Mrs Herbert’s grocer for his list. Had he done so, he would, in all probability, have shown a greater percentage increase in prices. Mrs Herbert has got all mixed up with that pound of steak, and finished up with the butcher’s cart before the horse. When a worker passes his money over the counter in exchange for that which a worker has helped to produce, his money is completing its circle, and is, therefore, going out of circulation, not into circulation. The question of taxation in Groat Britain does not come into this discussion. The conditions - obtaining in any other country do not excuse our Labour Government for allowng prices to rise and so reduce the purchasing power, and therefore the standard of living, of the people of New Zealand. Mrs Herbert may be interested to know that during the second reading debate of the Factories Bill Mr Forbes, M.P., said that as a result of the provisions of the Bill prices would rise. The Minister of Public Works (Mr 11. Semple), who followed, said: “It is true that prices will go up if the Government is. stupid enough to allow them to go up.” Perhaps I had better leave it at that. I asked Mrs Herbert for some proof of her reiterated statement that our people have an increased purchasing power since the advent of the Labour Government. In reply she offers figures showing the miserable improvements made in pensions, sustenance, pay to the aged, the infirm, the blind, and unfortunate. She admits that these miserable allowances are made from taxes collected from the rest of us, but wishes, at the same time, to claim that they increase purchasing power. This is, indeed, confused thinking; perhaps that steak was to blame. These payments, being made out of taxes, do not increase the amount of money available to meet prices; they have merely been taken from Peter to pay Paul. Only effective incomes and comparative prices can be taken into account when reckoning the variation in the cost of living, and so we find that our purchasing power has been reduced since 1935, as prices have risen 27 per cent., whereas effective incomes have risen not more than 15 per cent. Since the Rt. Hon. Mr Savage and party have not kept the vital promises made prior to the last election, I am not likely to take much notice of their present or future political eyewash. Let me explain. When a party is given a mandate from the people to see that there is £1 available to liquidate every £1 in prices, and that party does not carry out the wishes of the people, then that party has betrayed the people and is no longer worthy of support, whether it be Labour, National, or any other political party.—l am, etc., Disappointed. February 25.