THE COST OF LIVING.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17263, 2 September 1916, Page 8

THE COST OF LIVING.

There is nothing very new in tho particulars wo print this morning from the Labour Department’s “Journal” concerning the, cost of living. Tho table showing a total increase during the war of nearly 22 per cent in the average household’s outlay on groceries, dairy produce and meat is fairly impressive. It means that food costing twenty shillings at tho outbreak of war now costs more than twenty-four shillings, so that if the same quantities aro consumed there is a war tax of over four shillings in the pound on all wages spent on groceries, meat and dairy produce. But that by uo means represents the full increase in the cost of living that has occurred during tho war. Boots, clothing, medicines, utensils, almost everything, in fact, have soared in price, and wo aro sure that! only full employment at good wages has prevented a considerable amount of destitution. AYe cannot hold the Government innocent in this matter, because some control ought obviously to have been exercised over prices of commodities of which there is abundance and in respect of which the pressure upon consumers has been abnormal. Tho Board of Trade, however, is not without promise of usefulness. Its very existence and its peripatetic activities are held by Mr Massey to have effected some savings to tho people, hnd tho knowledge of a vigilant tribunal will probably operate as a check upon exploitation. In fairness to the Government, also, it should bo recognised that it resisted the agitation to put. heavier taxes on wages already subject to high war taxation. Tile problem, howevor, will havo to be faced later on, and it is just ns well for the politicians and the public to realise the fact. For the present, tho only plan adopted'to relieve the position has oeon to increase wages here and there. But that is not a remedy; it is a palliative, and a quite unsound one, since it increases the pressure upon those who do not share in the “ war bonuses.” We shall not be surprised to find this subject looming large on the political horizon after tire war. Tho publio mind has had a good deal of education on the principles of taxation during the last year or two, and some of the lessons arc likely to bo useful. A revision of the Customs tariff could be made to afford considerable relief to the bulk of the people, for many items in the tariff can only be defended on tho ground that no other means of securing revenue suggest themselves to the Government. Probably a further liberalisation of the land laws, so as to effect a better distribution of the population, will come about, partly through recognition of the State’s obligation to returned soldiers; and in that way lies some Hope of reducing the cost of living, which is atrociously aggravated in Wellington, for example, by congestion and excessive rents. At all events, the problem is assuming proportions which will make an offort to find a solution one of the first duties of our statesmen as soon ns the}’ are relieved from war responsibilities.