COST OF LIVING.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XL, Issue 11435, 27 November 1915, Page 4

COST OF LIVING.

WAR INCREASES. RETAIL PRICES FOR QUARTS RCENTURY EXAMINED. Following the lines already laid down by the Statistical Departments of the older countries, and of Canada and Australia, the New* Zealand Statistical Office is extending the range of its work to cover the production of statistics relating to industrial and economic inquiries, and the first monograph on economic matters is now issued in the form of a “Report on the Cost of Living in New Zealand from 1891-1914.” It is hoped that, in the future, it will be possible to publish the results of similar investigations into wholesale prices, wages, unemployment, household budgets, and other problems to this nature, so as to provide a complete compendium of information relating toNew Zealand / economics. The present report deals primarily ■with retail prices in the Dominion for the last twenty-five years. In all, fifty-nine of the commonest household necessaries are considered, and their prices are averaged and tabulated for each of the four main centres of New Zealand, over the period covered. These commodities are divided into four main groups—groceries, dairy produce. [ meat, fuel and light—and eacli group is treated separately, ana all groups are then combined. In addition, rent for various classes of houses is tabulated for the four centres. The method of the investigation is similar to that nsed by the Commonwealth Statistician, so that the results are readily comparable with those obtained in Australia.

In 1914, the investigation was extending to cover twenty-five towns which are representative of the Dominion’s various interests, and included in the report is a discussion of the cost of living in these towns for the four quarters of 1914, and the first two quarters of 1915. A separate chapter is devoted to ‘ ‘War Increases’ ’ in the period from July*, 1914, to August, 3915. Index-numbers are compiled for each group month by month in the twenty-five towns, and separate tables give the percentage increase since July, 1914. The course of prices is further illustrated by separate treatment of the price of bread and of butter, and by a reproduction of an assumed household budget, priced at the different levels for each month.

The index-numbers of the report are freely illustrated by graphs and supported by the actual average prices on -which the whole report was based. The prices are given at length in three appendices to the report, consisting of prices in the four centres from 1891-1913, quarterly average prices in 1914, to August, 1915. These figures not ony give the foundation on which the investigation was built up, but also provide a valuable source of information for future use.

In a preface the Government Statistican, Mr Malcolm Fraser, explains that the main features of the report were published in the “Labour Journal” for June and July, but the report has since been carefully revised and in many instances the discussion has been extended.

The report is issued by the Government .Printer at the nominal price of one shilling, and may be obtained from booksellers or from the Government Printer direct.