THE SHRINKING SOVEREIGN

North Otago Times, Volume CIII, Issue 13656, 25 August 1916, Page 4

THE SHRINKING SOVEREIGN

A-SHILLING DROP IN THE YEAR,

That the shrinking 1 sovereign lias diminished jn value by nearly a.shilling during tlie past twelve -months, is shown in a taUle in the July, abstract of. Dominion statistics. The table shows, inter iiliii, the relative'''worth*'or purchasing power in foodstuffs,, of a, sovereign in the June■ quarter'of ]9lu',.''fliid- the corresponding quarter of 'l9lsj'.as' compared with the'' aye.rage: • purchasing power o'f the sovereign ;in. the .years li)oi)'i:i, lirgroeeries the "worth'' of .the sovereign in the June quarter of '1913 was only 16/7-J; while in the June quarter of the present year it hail risen to lh'/10j. In'ilairy produce, however, the "worth" of the sovereign fell in the. twelve months from 16/fi to 15/03; nml in meat it fell from 17/1 to 15/IU, The fall in the three food groups combinei'l was'thus from lfi/9 to 15/9-1. or practically one'shilling.' Putting it another way and comparing the- four chief centres tlie result shows that in Auckland in the June quarter of 1915 the food that would have cost £1 in the average of the four, centres in 19U9-].'i actually .cost 2:1/9}. while in the June quarter of the present year it cost 20/9j.. For Wellington the. corresponding figures are '24/53 Hml 26/0}; iirChristcliurch 22/8J and 24/5-1;' and in Dunedin 2H/8 and 24/6.