WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14010, 15 March 1920, Page 1

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE COST pF LIVING

FURTHER ADVANCE.

(From Our Spec'al Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, March 12. A further advance' ia the price 6fl bread, a threatened advance ia the prit-e of* milk, and an inevitable '. advance iu the prices of boots and many articles of clothing are straining the purses and the patience nf people with •irottil fixed incomes to tho utmost. A large> proportion of the wage-earners, as distinguished from office and other uidoor jtorker* who nrefer to en 11 their wages salary, .have obtained a »-"<-tain measure of relief from an iii«Tease3~eost of living. The railway - men are rejecting Mr Justice ' Strin Kers proposals because they, hold tbens i« !>•» utterly inadequate to meet tbf needs of their position, and the mas? r>t tho community is disposed to sup port them in their contention. WELLINGTON'S SPECIAL PLIGHT. I Wellington long before the war w&* « notoriously '"dear place to live in,' una now it has reached a pa.ia in. this respect which many of the worker* ore declaring to be well-nigh intoieiuqje. But when the figures <;cme to. be analysed ft is found that the capital city, except in the matter of rent, i» really no worse off than the other big centres of population. In Auckland the rise in prices since the beginning of tu- wr in the tiiree tood gronpi—groceries, dairy produce, and meat —has reached 51.28 per cent.,- in Wellington 52.17 per cent., in Christchurch (53.20 per ccni., mid in Dune-din 'J9.4.S per cent. Of course the prices were lower iii Ciiristcbureh and Dunedin to start with, and this makes thf percentage ad>. mice u!l the larger, but tbf index figures, sho,*- prices, now aro actually higher in ,two cities than arf in the other two centres. A COMPARISON. The index figures for the three food groups, according to the Government .Statistician's latest report, are Auckland 1606, Wellington 162 G. Christchurch 1642 and Dnnedin 1664. But when all the groups are included, rent, fuel and light, as well as food, Auckland stand.-; at "1411, Wellington. at - 1518, Chii.stelmroh at 1435 and Dunudiu at 1-131. Strangely enough, to - the uniiiated, meat is much mom costly in Christchurch and Dunediif than it is in the two northern citicii, the index figure for Christchurch beinj} 1754 and ior Dunedin 1766, while the . index figure for Auckland is 1625 aud for "Wellington 1522. In rent, however, Wellington soars above all its - contemporaries, its index figure being 1321, while tiiose of Auckland, Christchurch and Dnnedin are 1055, 1057 and 1000 respectively. Obviously if "Wellington people would live in tents and sustain themselves on meat their city would be the cheapest place of residence, under similar conditions, within the Dominion. - THE STAFF OF LIFE: The latest blow to housewives here—the last straw, as some of them are Ucclariug—is the advance in the price oi bread- The Board of Trade and the millers and bakers at their conference in Christchurch appear to have agrwd upon an :ulvance of twopence in the price of the tour pound loaf, but this was more than the Prime Minister could sanction, and after a prolonged 'lonferenct; with the bakers he has arranged that the advance shall be only one penny for a month und that at the «ud of that period the position shall be reviewed. Meanwhile the bakers are to Turnish t« the Board of Trade detailed accounts of the cost of manufacture and to be allowed to collect a farthing for the delivery of the two pound loaf. Independent experts are divided as to what the ultimnte outcome will be, but the bakers insist ihev will be carrying on at a 10-s.