THE COST OF LIVING.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 116, 14 May 1909, Page 7

THE COST OF LIVING.

AND THE STANDARD

The following, from the N.Z. Times, will be of interest to Blenheim readers: — Even the people who could afford bread if it were two shillings a loaf are interested in the cost of living, decreases or increases in the price of daily necessaries, house accommodation, and the thousand and one things required or desired to make the wheels of daily life run smoothly. But; the average house-father, with a. small wage—and the average wage in Wellington is not large considered from the point of view of its purchasing power—if he has a number of children, is vitally interested in the matter. More vitally interested, too, is the mother, to whom is often given the task of spending a wage- to the best advantage.

PEOPLE MORE AMBITIOUS

Remember that free circulation of money, no matter whose money it may be, does not help collective thrift, and as far as Wellington is concerned the people demand and obtain a more luxurious life than did the people who preceded them. The cost of living is frequently deemed to be what the individual concerned ~ spends, and necessities are greater among people who despise the pioneering carefulness of their forebears.

Recently a large number of local tradespeople were approached by a Times reporter, who called their attention to the fact that Auckland, although it had said a good deal about the cost of living, was not quite sure whether it had decreased, increased, or remained stationary. One tradesman who does not sell things to eat, but who nevertheless sells household goods regarded as absolute necessities, said that in such goods there had been no increase for ten years, but that what was purchased at his store cost individuals more money, because ' 'they insisted on goods of 'better quality, which was the truest economyi" This trader remarked that although money really was "tight," there was no disposition among customers to go without things they coveted, and "tightness" of money simply meant longer credit. The standard of living was much higher in Wellington than it had been in his experience of thirtyfive years.

HOUSE AND SHOP RENTS.

Rent, as has been so frequently said in this paper, is the chief bugbear of the average wage-earner, as it still is of the tradesman who must keep a shop. House rents. have undoubtedly declined perceptibly, and if •the figures quoted in an article bearing on the rentals for small houses in Auckland are reliable, . Auckland workers are "on a better wicket" than ,heir Wellington cousins. Take this Auckland paragraph; for instance:— The cost of living has gone up owing to the price of labour and material, but that has made no difference worth speaking of to the tenant, and rents have scarcely altered within the last five years, plenty of four-roomed houses with kitchen attached, located within the twopenny section,'letting at from 8s to 10s, while five-roomed houses let at 12s and six-roomed houses from 12s to 16s. Wellington rents increased enormously in five years, and the small decline is not due to any decrease in building trades supplies. A sevenroomed; house within a twopenny section, on the tram is now cheap at 30s, but it would have been snapped up a few months ago at 355, so that a less demand is the only possible reading of the mystery. A very distant six-roomed house may be had for 16s, and at Island Bay or Miramar for even less, but there are still inconvenient, badlyconstructed, and ill-ventilated houses on Mount Victoria, side (a district that must be climbed) that are still bringing in 30s weekly, and which in many cases return from 15 to 25 per cent, on the original capital invested. Melrose seems to be cheap for some reason, and a four-roomed house may be had, much nearer the city compared with a similar house in Auckland, for 8s or 10s. Shop rents in busy parts of Wellington have not declined. Two shops just finished in Cuba Street will be occupied at £10 per week each, and a bookseller has just taken a not very large shop in the same thoroughfare at a rental of £6 per week. These people must necessarily ask for fairly large profits hi order to keep square with the landlord, for in many talks with people recently tradesmen showed that the landlord and the merchant "had the whip hand," and the retailer as a rule did most of the_ waiting for money that did not roll in too freely. Although shop rents had been high in Wellington for many years, one tradesman remarked that if a tenant for any reason left a shop the owners almost invariably increased the rental to the next tenant, and. this, of course, indirectly put hands into the purchasers' pockets. THE PRICE OF FISH.

Among men who feed the people are the fishmongers, and the reporter saw several. One said that "fish was a thing of the past" for the last week or two owing to a strike of fishermen. Another naively said that fishmongers never raised their prices, whatever happened. Fish was a perishable commodity; and even if there were short supplies at high prices the customer was not asked to pay higher. That is to say, one may always pay 4d per pound for hapuka steak—the cheapest fish brought to Wellington —and always give one shilling for three tiny flat fish of either the sole or the flounder rarietv. The latter is, of course, fish for the moroly luxurious. To descend to hapuka once

again: Sometimes the retailers buy it for 9s a hundredweight and sometimes for three shillings. When it is nine shillings the fishmongers don't -charge sixpence a pound, and when it is three shillings, they don't sell it for a penny. Only two days ago several full loads of wasted hapuka were carted through the town. It is very useful for manure.

ARE POTATOES "CORNERED?"

The Chinese dominate the fruit and vegetable trade in Wellington, and will continue to do so until there is an open public market. It is almost sill" to quote prices of the fruit and vegetables that New Zealand grows so prolifically, because everybody knows what luxuries they are. The reporter has seen cabbages sold in the markets at threepence a bag. To buy one of tho cabbages that come out of any of those bags at a Chinese shop one would have to give twopence or threepence according to the size. When cabbages are three shillings a bag the Chinese may let you have one for sixpence. French beans were sold at tha Wellington markets a few weeks ago at sixpence p-sr sack. They were cheap in tho Chinese shops, too. Good hard, stringy sorts were buyable for one penny per pound. Specked apples at threepence or fourpence a pound seem to be dear in a country which sends tremendously corpulent apples to show the Englanders how the poor live in New Zealand. The Chinese do not have the sole handling of potatoes. A fortnight ago 18 pounds for a shilling could have been purchased. Yesterday potatoes were £6 10s a ton and twelve pounds for a shilling. There are no fewer potatoes now than then, so that someone locally must be in a mild "corner" in the useful tuber. ABOUT GROCERIES. Groceries are really not dearer than they have been for years past. There have, of course, been the reductions of tariff duties on dried fruits, sugar and tea, but people do not really live on either commodity, and there have been few reductions or increases in other goods sold over the grocer's counter. Local producers of edibles sold in vessels usually manage to keep up their prices on similar articles imported from Home. Butter is a necessity, and is at the moment Is Id per pound. It is sometimes as good as the butter New Zealand sends Home, but not often. It is never so cheap. It also varies in weight, for the buttermonger does not denominate the weight of a packet. Butter has been lid once or twice during the past three years, but it rises as surely as the sun. i Eggs, according to a grocer, are "unobtainable," and those of the new laid variety axe 2s &d a dozen, which is a better price than at Auckland. A brand of egg that is not quite dependable is sold at Is 9d for twelve, and is usually alluded to as a "pastry variety." The poultry industry so carefully nurtured at large expense in New Zealand does not seem to do much in the cheap egg line. MEAT AND MILK. Meat is cheaper in Wellington than it was a few years ago, and people will only have the best. Butchers don't like everybody to ask for the best, and allege that . there is much waste. Is this the reason why water and bread are put into sausages? People who want the best pay 8d for rump steak, 5d for the bladebone variety, and 7d for sirloin, Chops that were once sixpence per pound are now 4d, and the more humble parts of beasts are cheap enough. Still if there is so much waste of meat it seems hard that sausages don't see more of it.

Milk in Wellington is.often bad, and for this milk one pays threepence per quart. The milk sellers are telling the housewives that it is going up a perny. One firm lately reduced the price, and having established a business put its price up. Firing and light is an item to the average man who has two pounds ten. or three pounds to squander on. a large family every week. He cannot buy a ton of coal at a time, and so pays two shillings per hundredweight. No coalman ever weighs the coal at the door. One man told the reporter that he got a half ton of coal delivered at Seatoim for 14s. Lucky man! Firewood for kindling is sold as if New Zealand was one vast treeless plain. Between Wellington and Otaki there are millions of feet of firewood lying rotting on the ground. But the dealer in Wellington sends a miserable bit in a sack for one shilling. It is frequently sawn timber from condemned buildings. It is not fit for fuel. The seller makes no difference in the price whether he gives- you p-ood hard bush timber or old sawn building stuff full of rot. Probably because Wellington is the Empire City the Empire citizen pays 5s 5d per 1000 for gas, while the Queen citizen is let off at 4s 9d for the same length.

BOOTS AND CLOTHES. Boots are from five to sefen per cent, dearer than they were three years ago. Children's footwear is dearer in proportion to adults', and a smart pair 6i infant's "best" that four years ago could be had for ss. will cost 7s 6d .nowadays. The price of boots, unlike most other things in Wellington, varies with the neighbourhood, and probably this is because Lambton Quay pays more rent than Vivian Street or Cuba Street. A few shillings here or there are matters of no moment to the boot seller. Men in Wellington don't wear slop clothes, so they pay what they have paid for years for their suits—£s, £5 10s, £6 and (extra fashionable) £6 10s. Many tailors, appear to be able to build clothes at far less prices if one gauges their philantrophy by the window display. But one doesn't use a window as a gauge. » THE STAFF OF LIFE. Bread has "gone up" owing to America or the Argentine or any other reason that will do to tell a housewife. Coupons are 3s 8d a dozen. The two-pound loaf has been fourpence for the past fortnight. There are two pound loaves in Wellington that are so only in name, it is impossible for a baker to gauge exactly the weight of each loaf. He never weighs it at the householder's door. This, of course, is the customer's fault. Still this inspector man should look into this. WHAT ABOUT THE DEPRESSION? The alleged local depression was ; spoken of to several business men, some of whom believed in its existenco and some of whom emphatically denied it. A jeweller said that eve?-y month's takings this year exceeded those of last year up to the present. A grocer said it was painful to pass "every other person" on the street, because that person owed him money. Ho further mentioned that the people who didn't pay were not solely the poople in poor circumstances. Moji in good positions had dabbled w much in speculation that they wero always "tight" in the money seiis<\ One

man was scornful about the depression. 'Did you see the women at the fire sale the other day? They simply fought to spend mcr.oy. Do you think the"proprietors of be business saw anything depressed, bout the spending power-of W^lliri-ston people? Ton make mo smile." j