The Four Cities

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6899, 3 May 1929, Page 6

The Four Cities

THE figures for the four large centres of the Dominion—Auckland, X Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin—all starting from the index number 1000 in July, 1914, showed very substantial increases in February, 1929, though they did not reach the high levels touched in 1919 and 1920, the two years following upon the conclusion of the war. The average level of prices at the beginning of the present year was 1600 in Auckland, 1773 in Wellington, 1596 in Christchurch and 1540 in Dunedin. Rent was the highest factor in each of these centres. Compared with the index number in 1914 (1000) Auckland showed an increase of 84.6. per cent., Wellington 145.8 per cent., Christchurch 90.7 per cent, and Dunedin 71.5 per cent. It is rent, of course, that makes Wellington the most costly place of residence in the Dominion. In the three food groups—groceries, dairy produce and meat—it compares favourably with the other centres. Dunedin’s current figure in these groups is 1490; Auckland’s 1480, Wellington’s 1463, and Christchurch's 1450, comparisons which the Labour members of the Christchurch City Council may be trusted to exploit to the fullest advantage in the interests of the municipal markets. t