NO PROSPERITY YET

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 January 1925, Page 7

NO PROSPERITY YET

RISING COSTS OF BRITISH ESSENTIALS. MUST RUSH WAR ON PROFITEER. LONDON. Nov. 20. A concerted outcry against the continued rise in the cost of living is coming from all parts of the country, and Premier Baldwin is being urged on all sides to speed up the inquiry now being made into the causes. At the present time sub-committees are .busy considering the terms of reference for the Royal Commission of food prices, but it is generally regarded that with Christmas near, action must he stimulated if positive suffering i> to be kept within moderate bounds.

There are not wanting critics to remind Premier Baldwin that the surest way to become unpopular is to delay taking effective measures to curb these rising costs on essentials. Meat recently rose in price to figures that surpass those reached during the war, and bread is expected to take yet another jump at any moment. ■ The Ministry of Labour announces that the cost of living in Britain to-day is 80 per cent above the level of August, 1914. the rise in the past month equalling four - points. The Government has grave suspicions on profiteering, and the Prime Aynister says he js determined to expose the causes that have led to the recent advance. Yet. while there is doubtless much profiteering, the inefficiency of the system of distributing which has been revealed so plainly in the recent Covent Garden strike, is a contributory factor. With this however, Mr. Baldwin is hardly likolv to deal, owing to the enormity of the task and the tremendous influence and power of the entrenched interests.