PRICE OF FOOD

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 112, 14 May 1914, Page 2

PRICE OF FOOD

THE PROBLEM IN AUSTRALIA

HOUSEHOLDERS' REBELLION

j . , : SYDNEY, May 1. j A feature of present conditions of i living in Australia is the steadily .increasing cost of food. This is causing fast-accumulating discontent amongst the generally easy-going Australians, especially amongst those j who work for fixed salaries or wages, I .and are not able to secure periodical } increases of pay through the medium J of wages boards, awards, or decisions !by industrial arbitration courts. The position is -such in connection with the cost of food supplies that in, say, ; I .Sydney and Melbourne, a man who j iis receiving ths, same salary .as ho j , got .three years ago is now about half a crown in the sovereign worse off than in 1911. Undoubtedly there iis some justification for the plea put j I forward by tradespeople that ad- : ranees in rents and wages have sub- '<■ stantially increased the cost of dia- [ ti'ibwfcion, but peoplo -who go' into | figures complain that the distributors j j add too big a percentage for their own profit to actual and anticipated : increases in both wages and rent, i | Then, too, there seems (to be an in- ! ! creasing tendency on the part of dis-,: j tributors to entor into combinations! for the purpose of kfeping up and advancing prices. For instance, it is » pointed out, that whenever flour is quoted at a high wholesale, price bakers raise the price of bread, but they do not lower tho price when j flour becomes cheaper.' The selling i price of bread remains at the ele-va-tocl figures until the newspapers j roport again that flour is dear, when j another increase is made in the price! of bread. Householders in Melbourne 1 havo entered upon a campaign of ro- ! ■'sisfcance to a combination of city and ; suburban grocers which meant at strong attempt at tho abolition of all • semblance to trade-competition. j Loadors in the householders-' re- ' bellion made it their business to find t oisfc what grocers were in the "com- ! bino," and distributed thp informs- ! tioTj, together with an appeal to their follows to join in a boycott of j what .were designated "combine" i shops. So ready was the response, j and so groat the flood of new busi- j nevjs to "non-combine" shops .that, J according to the Molbourne Age, the i "ring" has been broken. As regards [ moat, of which Australians arc ! credited with consuming more per j hoid thati any other people, in the ! world, prices continue to mount up, ' and men in tho meat business say

that it is very likely'that by the end of the year it will not be possible to buy good meat in, Melbourne or Sydney for less than I a shilling a pound. Again the plea of increased cost of distribution is put forward,, together with references t6 increased exports. Bmb there is a spreading conviction that the dreaded^.American Meat Ti'ust, which has hatd'emissaries here for some time, is' at the\bottom of the matter, and that it, W engineering a temporary increasesL|of prices for growers of live st|tei| to' ensure a permanent grip bf *%'he' growers, who will-.'ultimately Oiave to be,, content with v^hat the Trust cares (to give them, while consumers will be compelled to pay still -Anyhow, apai;t from any explanation and conj ectures concerning. causes, the fact remains that the cost' of living is growing at a ■ rate. which already means for many deprivations of a troubling nature, notwithstanding the continued advertising, of this country as a sort; of workers' Paradise. ■ .■'■: .": ■-'•' ;--..'..;