The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1917. STATE BUTCHER SHOPS.

Southland Times, Issue 17934, 27 January 1917, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1917. STATE BUTCHER SHOPS.

Many things are being done under the stress of war which in the days of peace were regarded as outside the field of practical politics. In New Zealand an attempt has been made to deal with the cost of living, and many expedients have been tried to check the soaring tendency in the prices of foodstuffs. One of the most useful of the Board of Trade’s activities has been the endeavour to check exploitation, and the Board's latest experiment is the establishment of two retail shops in Auckland at which meat will be sold over the counter at one penny or twopence per lb. below the ruling prices. The trouble arose over the refusal of Auckland butchers to accept the limits of prices laid down by the Board, and raising the price of meat one penny in some instances and a halfpenny in others. The Board offered the Auckland butchers the option of drawing supplies from the Imperial stores on condition that the retail prices were not increased, but the proposal was turned down and the Board is now preparing to enter into competition with the recalcitrant tradesmen. The Board would not take this action without coming to the conclusion after investigation that a rise was not justified, and on the other hand the retail butchers must be equally convinced that the present wholesale price of stock renders an increase in the retail price essential if they are to remain solvent. The Board will now have to justify its action, and judging from the general experience of State control it is doubtful if the Board will be able to undercut the tradesmen and show a profit. The results of the experiment will be watched with interest, and after a short trial the public will be entitled to a return showing the financial position. The taxpayers in other parts of the Dominion are not anxious to meet a deficit on the Board’s shops in order to provide Auckland citizens with cheaper meat. But on the other hand if the venture shows that middlemen are making exorbitant profits, then other cities will have a perfectly just demand for the extension of the principle of State control, so that all may have facilities for obtaining the necessaries of life at reduced prices. We do not think that the establishment of State butcher shops is likely to lead to a wider measure of State control over food supplies. In theory the system is admirable and unimpeachable but we are sceptical as to the ability of the Board of Trade, or of a Government Department, to inaugurate and operate it with success. The high cost of living is largely due to external causes, and it is world wide at the present time. So far as New Zealand is concerned the increase in prices Is not so great as in other countries, and the outcry against the cost of living would meet with a more sympathetic reception if it were accompanied by some evidence of a general desire to economise. Money is plentiful in this country; wages arc high, and the evidence of tradesmen all over the Domi-

nion is that all classes are buying freely, if not lavishly. There is a total absence of sustained effort to live cheaply and simply in order that the wives and children of those at the front may be well cared for. We are accepting the extreme sacrifice from those who are fighting for us. What are we doing in return? Living on the whole very much as usual. While this state of things continues the cry about the cost of living and exploitation docs not ring very true.