The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11th, 1923. THE COST OF LIVING.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 April 1923, Page 2

The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11th, 1923. THE COST OF LIVING.

Measured in the points of the cost of living index figures there was, according to the statistical figures, a slight rise during the month ended February loth, due to the increased prices or butter, eggs and meat. A moro reliable comparison is one made over a longer period and this shows that slowly but steadily the essentials of daily life are cheapening. Details of price movements recorded, by the Government Statistician show that the fall in the prices of potatoes and onions accounts for a decline of 26 points in the groceries group, hut increases in the prices fo butter and eggs have sent the cost of living up .‘l6 points and similarly there is a sharp advance in the price of meat of -IS points, due to an all round increase in the price of mutton. These figures may not be easy for the housewife to follow but she can understand the matter better, if she is told that groceries, dairy produce and meat combined are dearer than the previous month l>v about Sd on an expenditure on food of £3 per week, or that what could be bought for £3 in July, 1914, costs £4 4s today. That is a computation concerning groceries, meat, butter, cheese, milk and eggs. Ot-ier important factors, such as clothes, boots, gas, coal, electric light, tram and train fares, do not come into these tables. The cost, however, of food, rent, fuel and light, as- given by the Gobernment statistician i> lower at the end of February this year than at the end of February 1922, hv 7.21 points in four centres. All the same taking an average of their cost in Auckland, 'Wellington, Christchurch" and Dunedin from 1909 to 1913, they Have increased by 42.31 per cent. That is to say that what

could ho done with a wage of £4 per week in meeting rent, food, lighting and wood and coal bills in those cities, averaging the whole four of them, in pre-war times, requires roughly .£•’> 14s per week to-day. Incidentally some of the local restaurants that had brought the price of meals down from 4s 6d to Is 3d have just advanced their prices to Is 04, giving as g reason the increased cost of food. The distinction of the highest house rents does not belong to Wellington, as may be popularly supposed. Hamilton leads, followed by New .Plymouth, Rotorua, Palmerston North and Wellington, in that order.