COST OF LIVING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10110, 18 October 1917, Page 6

COST OF LIVING.

THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Oct. 17. The report of the Cost-of-Livine; Committee' may not do a great deal, towards tho'reduction'of retail prices, but it scarcely can' fail to'aWalien a. wider and morn intelligent interest iu the question of State Control. The Committee's handy palliative for such exploitation as is going on is tho appointment of a Food Controller with a seat in the Cabinet and with plenary powers to deal promptly with tho exploiters; but its permanent cure for tho evils arising out of unrestricted private trading is a combination of co-operative effort and State ownership. The fact that the Prime Minister, as a member of the Committee, subscribed to this prescription, is of little' significance; as ho appears to have done so with some mental reservation, but tho general attitude of the House towards the underlying principle of State Control was distinctly impressive.. THE PARTY LEADERS.

Roth Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward were at some disadvantage in criticising the Committee's proposals. The Minister of Finance, in particular, burdened' with the enormous responsibility of financing the country through the war. had to > restrain tho progressive impulses by which ho doubtless would have been animated in different circumstances; and to deprecate any experiment that seemed likely to prejudicially affect his revenue. The Prime Minister, sharing his colleague's sense of responsibility and his concern for tho primary producers, was even more urgent in'his appeal to the House to venture upon no hazardous ground in sttclfiimes as these. Between them the two Ministers prepared the way for Mr McCombs's ill-natured jibe that the Government did not lack the power to deal with tho cost of livipg, but had not the will to stop exploitation. THE NEED FOR ACTION.

The members of tho Committee, drawn from both sides of the House and fairly representing the urban and rural sentiments of the. country, were practically unanimous in demanding some action for the relief of the unhappy consumer. The evidence placed before, them ensured this being; tho case. As it happens, the cost of living hits mounted up in Wellington more persistently than it has in any. other centre of"population, small or great, in the Dominion. Food commodities, with the single exception of meat, are dearer in the capital city than they are in any remote town or hamlet in either Island, and house rents, in spite of all tho legislation that has been promised and passed, are relatively.higher. The lot or tho wago-barner in Wellington is beyond question an extremely hard one, and hundreds of him were ready to testify before the Committee to this effect'. WHAT WILL BE DONE.

The Committee'was set up so lato in the session that it cannot be blamed for its report being before the House at a time, when members who do not realise the gravity of the problem with which it had to deal will bo inclined to leave tho whole matter in the untrammelled hands of the Government andgetaway to 'their homes. But apparently there are sufficient earnest men in the House, determined to Ret ,i hearing .without regard to party, to compel Ministers to give practical effect to some of the Committee's proposals. The outcome may bo the appointment of a Food Controller, not necessarily with a seat in the Cabinet, to devote himself entirely to the administration of tho legislation concerning tho regulation, of prices already oh the Statute Book. Perhaps lie may be in some way associated with the Board of Trade with limited plenary powers of his own. BOARD OF TRADE. Knowing what everyono does of the experiences of tho Board of Trade, this arrangement could not be regarded as a very satisfactory one. The Board has done a vast amount of work which lias been useful to .Ministers, and would have been valuable to the country had it been turned to its intended purpose. But it has been a purely advisory body with no power to give effect to its own recommendations and no means ofcommending them to tho country or even to Parliament. A Food Controller placed in the samp position, subject, that is, to the direction and veto ot the Minister in charge of his Department, would be a little, more expensive funi.re-lroad, dint- scarcely; a. ; les.s;.:inetl'e('t.iveYoiie.'".,';'lt .wodl<l'o>e;.iiiip9ssible,',in-,' deed, to get l.he''right"m'an"to 'accept' office-under such conditions, and'tlie wrong man would bo worse than useless'.