COST OF LIVING

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4957, 18 February 1937, Page 5

COST OF LIVING

"NO GREAT INCREASE." RISE OF 4i/> PER CENT. LAST YEAR. That there had been any great increase in actual .living costs was denied by Mr. Jas. Thorn, M.P. for Thames, in the course of his address at Hikutaia last week. Quoting for the monthly Abstract of Statistics, which has been kept as a record of the cost of living figures since July, 1914. Mr. Thorn showed that in November, 1935, when the Labour Government took office, the figures over the whole of the Dominion were 35.8 per cent, above the July 1914, level. The Abstract of Statistics showed that in November, 1936, the increase over 1914 had risen to 40.3 per cent. "That," said Mr. Thorn, "is an increase of only iy 2 per cent, over the whole of the Dominion since Labour took office. The figures relate to every ordinary article that goes: into the homes."

The increase of 4% per cent., the speaker asserted, would not have been so great had farmers not been getting higher prices for what they were selling, particularly for dairy produce and meat as the following figures showed: In November, 1935, the level of" dairy produce prices had been •shown at 751 points; in November, 1936, it had risen to 815, a rise of 12 per cent. Meat, which had been shown at 879 in November, 1935, had by last November risen to 961 —an increase of 10 per cent. "And curiously enough," said Mr. Thorn, "it is from some of the farmers' leaders that we get the criticism that the cost of living is going up."