COST OF LIVING

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 November 1931, Page 3

COST OF LIVING

RETAIL PRICES LOWER. The index number for the retail prices in the three food groups as at September 15, 1931, on the base average prices during the years 192630 equals 1000, is 817—a decrease of 18.3 p'er cent., as compared with the average of prices ruling during the base period, states the "Abstract of Statistics.” A fall of 7 points is recorded since the previous month, and of 140 points, or 14.6 pdr cent., as comriared with the corresponding month of last year. A fall of five, points in the groceries group is mainly due to further decreases in the price of potatoes. Egg prices have fallen to a very low level, and butter and milk have also been reduced in price; the combined effect of these price movements is shown by a further reduction of 32 points in the index number for tfie dairy produce group.

Since April last, the index number ' for the meat group has shown a cumulative increase of 34 points; the nine-point increase over last month’s index is attributable to higher prices being charged for fish, and to a lesser extent for beef and mutton. Expenditure on food, constitutes approximately three-tenths of the expenditure of an average household. In order to present a more complete picture of the movement in retail prices generally, statistics regarding retail prices of clothing, drapery, and footwear and of miscellaneous items, are collected at quarterly intervals, while returns of house rents are obtained twice a year. When these indexes are combined with the 'monthly food and fuel and light indexes approximately 81 per cent, of the average household expenditure is represented. The AifguSt rent, clothing and drapery, footwear, arid miscellaneous indexes' combined with the September food and' fuel 1 and light index numbers give an all-grpups index number of 890 —a decrease of 11.0 per cent, as compared with the average of prices ruling in 1926 to 1930, and an in crease of 41.7 per cent, over July, 1914, prices.