COST OF LIVING COMMISSION.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 228, 29 August 1912, Page 5

COST OF LIVING COMMISSION.

FORECAST OF ITS REPORT. THROWS BUT LITTLE LIGHT ON THE PROBLEM. Wellington, Aug. 29. According to the forecast of the Cost of Living Commission, in the report published to-day, some glaring instances of dishonesty in. the net. weight of tinned and packed goods were disclosed in the evidence taken and Government . will be asked to deal with the matter. The cost cf living has increased during the past twenty years and more especially in the last ten years, but at the same time the standard of living has increased fairly rapidly. The prices of commodities, however, have gone up at a greater ratio than the advance in incomes, hence the cry of the increased cost of living, though the power to purchase may be much greater than it was before the upward tendency of wages began. Notwithstanding the fact that increases have taken place in the wages earned, the producing capacity of labour has on the whole increased at a; greater ratio to wages. This probabl i greater ratio to wages. This prob-; ably applies more in regard to the manufacturing precess than to the j distiibution of goods, the cost ofi which has increased, while the cost; of production has decreased. In- j creased ability to produce, together | with the higher prices of New Zea-j land products has resulted in largely ' increased land values. The increase in the cost of living is not more marked in New Zealand than elsewhere. It is a world-wide movement , to which monopolies, trusts and combines have in some measure contributed. The trend of evidence has been to show that monopolies do ex-

ist here. The reductions in the tariff have not always assisted consumers and the, demand for New Zealand products outside the Dominion has undoubtedly raised the price of farm produce to New Zealand consumers. Whether the rise in the price of land has been the cause or the effect of the high prices ruling for commodities is a point that may be fairly'debated. The Commission does not expect to be able to make recommendations that can be put into force immediately, but their findings will indicate the course of legislation that should take place.