STILL RISING

Otago Witness, Issue 3274, 13 December 1916, Page 7

STILL RISING

DOMINION LIVING COST. Month by month it is costing a little more to live in New Zealand. The average inerea.se is not great, but it is certain, and if the causes at present operating continue in force much longer the Government Statistician will have to lengthen the barometers on which, in each issue of tho Labour Journal, ho illustrates how the prices- of commodities arc rising. Wellington is almost at tho top of the rent barometer, 230 points ahead of the next highest town (Gisborne), and Whangarci, Waihi, Greymouth, Gore, Gisborne, Oamaru, Palmersi on North, and Invercargill are in > the last division as regards moat prices. Tho dominion index number for the September quarter shows an increase of 14 points over the June quarter. Considerable increases are recorded in groceries and meat, but there is a considerable decrease in dairy produce, due to the reversion to summer prices for milk. The sovereign, which was worth on the average 20s in the bad years (1909-13), was worth on tho average 15s 7,id when applied to the purcbn.se of food the September quarter of this year, as against 15s in June. To what extent, tho various classes of food have contributed to the increase may be roughly gauged by a reference to the average worth of the sovereign in each group, as follows: —Groceries 16s fid, dairy produce 15s 4d. meat 14s 9,',d. What it costs to purchase 20s worth of food (based on tho average prices of the four centres in 1909-13) is given in tho following statement for the June and Soptember ouarters:—Wellington : June ?6s OR September 26s 0?d; Auckland: 25s 9J,d. 26s (Hd; Christchurch : 24s sid, 24s lUd; 1 Dunodin: 24s 6d, 24s fUd._ On tho average of the four chief centres tho assumed weekly household budget of foodstuffs cost 24.31 per cent, more in September, 1916. than in July, 1914, as against 23.57 per cent, in August. War increases in Wellington for October, 1916, are given as follow:—Groceries 24.20 per cent. (September 23.81), dairy produce 13.59 per cent.

(14.10), meat 18.72 per cent. (17.25 J; three food groups, 19.53 per cent. (19.11).