HIGH PRICES OF FOOD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15964, 8 July 1915, Page 9

HIGH PRICES OF FOOD.

PRIME MINISTER IN REPLY. | I [BY TELEGRAPH.PRESS ASSOCIATION.] "Wellington", Wednesday The debate on the high cost of living and the causes leading thereto, was continued last night in the House after the Telegraph Office closed. The Prime Minister replied to some of the statements made. Mr. Massey described the debate as the most stale, flat, and unprofitable he had ever heard in the House. There had been, a great deal of quibbling, but not a single suggestion as to how the policy of the Government might have been improved. He quoted Mr. Asquith as against the fixing of prices, which, he had declared, had operated with most disastrous results in Germany. He defended the personnel of ihe Foodstuffs Commission, every one "of whom was above suspicion, and he was surprised to hear Mr. Hindmarsh's attack upon them. When war broke out, the Government found that we had very little wheat in the country, and that it was in very few hands. The Government therefore let it be known that if there was anything like exploitation it would deal drastically with it. Prices generally in New Zealand were very much lower than in Australia. Taking New Zealand as a whole, the increase had been only 10.60 per cent., but in. Australia it had ranged more like 25 per cent., and this difference was entirely due to the policy which the Government had adopted at the outbreak of war, and pursued ever since. The difference in the price of sugar in New Zealand and New South Wales was £4 in favour of our Dominion. Oatmeal was nearly £10 per ton cheaper in New Zealand than in New South Wales, meat was equally cheap in New Zealand as against Australia. He concluded by quoting a remark of Mr. Justice Stringer to show that no evidence of exploitation had been given before the commission.