CLOTHING PRICES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26042, 4 January 1946, Page 4

CLOTHING PRICES

DOMINION AND CANADA INTERESTING COMPARISON A contribution to the discussion on prices in New Zealand is made in a letter to the New Zealand Herald from Mr H. T. Cooper, of Swanson. “The much-lauded Price Tribunal,’' Mr Cooper writes, “ has only succeeded in controlling those goods which might be termed bare necessaries of life, such as bread, flour, etc. Men cannot live by bread alone. A household, no matter how small, must have cups and saucers, saucepans, clocks, cutlery, boots, clothes, a rug or covering on its floors, a cloth at meal times on the table, sheets, blankets and all the other civilised necessaries peculiar to our present living conditions. I enclose a few prices of goods sold in Canada taken from the Vancouver Sun of September 14, 1945. They will no doubt be of intense interest to the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Supply, as well as to the average worker. Some of the items quoted by Mr Cooper are:—Women’s straw hats 6s Id, seersucker pinafores 18s Id, twopiece jacket suits £l, cotton and rayon dresses £l, two-piece floral rayon dresses 18s Id, alpine cloth skirts 13s 4d, cotton shorts 6s, summer blouses 5s lid. cotton slacks 4s lOd. rayon slips 7s lOd, rayon panties 2s 4d, semifashioned hosiery 2s 4d. children's overalls 2s lid, cotton bathing suits 6s Id, girls’ cotton bathing suits 9d, toddlers’ wash frocks 2s 4d. children's ankle socks Is 6d, boys’ doeskin windbreakers 2s lid, men’s dress suspenders lOad, men’s cotton pullovers 3s, men’s work shirts 5s sd. dress shirts 6s Id, men’s combinations 4s ljd, men’s shirts and drawers 4s lid, 36-inch marquisette Is 3d yard, unbleached sheeting 2s lid yard, pyjama flannelette Is 2sd yard, crib blankets 5s sd, hand-hooked mats, size 36 x 72, £1 16s 2d.