STANDARD OF LIVING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19321, 7 May 1926, Page 15

STANDARD OF LIVING.

PRESENT-DAY LUXURIES. MOTOR-CARS AND TELEPHONES. NEW SOUTH WALES REVIEW. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY, April 30. Arguing that luxuries' of a decade or so ago are necessities to-day, a Sydney newspaper has gathered some interesting figures in support of its contention that factors not hitherto included in computation of the basic wage should he now taken into account. It contends that compared with 10 or 20 years ago, the standard of comfort in Australia, Sydney particularly, has increased enormously. It admits that wages may not always have kept pace with the high cost of living, but asks: "Where is the family that is not finding life hatter than it was 20 years ago ?" As proof, the newspaper advances statistics, which, though sometimes a little out of date, are sufficient to bear.out its case. Wages, it Says', have nominally increased 80 per cent, since 1911. The £1 is not now' worth anything like it was in 1911, but the effective value of wages, according to the cost of living and other statistics, .has increased 13 per cent, since 1911, in which year the average wage in New South Wales was £ll4. In 1924 it was £223. As the basic wage, in 1924 was £3 19.s a week, the paper avers that the majority of workers received considerably more than the basic rate. Regarding housing, the class of house now being built is said to be superior to that ot 1911. Even in outer suburbs brick and tile are replacing wood and galvanised iron: Internal fittings are better, and allotments larger. In 1911 only 3 per cent.. of the population were buying homes by instalments and in 1921, 11.3 per cent. were. In 1912 suburban land and improvements were worth £39,000,000 and in 1922 £100,000,000 —an increase of 155 per cent. Savings bank deposits increased from £46 per head in 1912 to £SO last- year. Total private wealth in this State in 1901 was valued at £270 per head; in 1911, £333; and in 1921, £450. The drink bill increased from £3 15s per head in 1912 to £5 Is 9d per head in 1923. 'Compared with the handful of motor-cars in 1911, there are now 100,000 in the State. " Then," adds the paper, "consider the number of more or less expensive necessities that have entered every household since 1911—radio, silk stockings, icechests, electric light, and radiators. Even allowing that £1 to-day is not worth as much as it used to be, a salary of £2O a week was not enough to run a car in 1911. To-day 120,000 persons include telephones in their ordinary expenditure. In 1913 there were only 46,000 in the State. Sydney is not only" a far better place to live in than any other city in the world, but it is a better place than Sydney itself was 10 or 20 years ago."