COST OF LIVING

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3374, 6 October 1931, Page 5

COST OF LIVING

FURTHER FALL SHOWN. DECREASE IN RENTS. Figures indicating a further fall in the cost of living are given in the iatest monthly Abstract of Statistics. The index number for the three food groups as at August 15) 1931, on the base, average prices during the years 1926-30 equalling 1000, is 824—a decrease of 17.6 per cent., as compared with the average of prices ruling during the base period. A fall of 4 points is recorded since the previous month, and of 144 with the corresponding month of last year. A fall of 11 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, this movement being the principal cause of a further reduction of 23 points in the index number for the dairy produce group. Since May last the index number for the meat group has increased 23 points; the 15-point increase over last month’s index being attributable to higher prices being charged for mutton, and to a lesser extent for beef.

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 Dominion weighted average index for rent on August 15 was 940, a decrease of 47 points, or 4.8 per cent., as compared with the February figure; the index numbers for the four chief centres being as follows:—Auckland, 852 (929 in February) ; Wellington, 1242 (1265 in February) ; Christchurch, 908 (965 in February) ; Dunedin, 931 (957 in February). Marked decreases have been recorded in all index numbers, except in the case of a few of the smaller centres where rents have always been comparatively low. A decided fall in prices of footwear, and a lesser fall in clothing prices have caused a 22-point decrease since May in the index number for the combined clothing, drapery and footwear group. Only minor alterations have occurred in the miscellaneous group, their combined effect being a 6-point decrease in the index number for this group since May, 1931. The combined all-groups index is 892—a decrease of 10.8 per. cent., as compared with the average of prices ruling in 1926 to 1930, and an increase of 42.0 per cent, over July, 1914, prices.