DEAR LIVING?

Southland Times, Issue 21288, 8 January 1931, Page 8

DEAR LIVING?

PRICES IN INVERCARGILL. COMPARISONS WITH THE NORTH. The controversy concerning the prices of bread and fruit in Invercargill continues to attract the attention of housewives, and other esssential food commodities have been referred to a reporter as showing anomalies in the prices charged locally in comparison with those at norlnern centres. One housewife declared that after a visit to Dunedin and further north during the holiday season she was satisfied that lue cost of living in Invercargill was higher than in the north. The only item which could compare favourably with other centres was milk, which was reasonably cheap.

The present retail price of butter was quoted as a typical instance of high prices. Factory butter, was stated to. be selling over the counter at 1/2 per pound, although officially quoted by the retailers in the Southland Tinies at 1/3. This could bo compared with the present price in Dunedin of lOd to 1/- and lid in Palmerston North. It could not be claimed that freight charges entered into the question at all, as butter was manufactured locally and any sent to Invercargill from other centres would have to compete with the locally made article. Fish was another commodity the local price of which was attacked. It was contended that although the fishing grounds in the far south were very productive ano fish were so plentiful that it was sometimes difficult to dispose of the catches, the retail price in Invercargill was higher than in Dunedin and certain inland towns in the North Island.

Why bread should be 25 per cent, dearer than in Christchurch and certainly dearer than in Dunedin was another query that was added to the list. It was admitted that little milling quality wheat was grown in Southland, but as the cost of hour wa» said by the bakers to have only a slight bearing on the price of bread, it was suggested that this factor could not be of sufficient importance to warrant the higher retail price. The northern visitor who recently expressed surprise at the high prices ruling locally for fruit again referred to her complaint yesterday when she was invited to comment upon the published explanation of a prominent local fruit merchant, who considered that when later consignments of fruit came forward, wholesale prices would be found to be much below those of last season. “I notice the merchant refers particularly to tomatoes, cherries, peaches and apricots” remarked the visitor. “What about bananas, apples and strawberries? How can the Invercargill fruiterers justify the fact that bananas similar to those "retailed here at six for one shilling can be purchased in Dunedin to the number of 10, and sometimes 12, for the same amount? The extra freight would surely not account for that difference in price. Apples, too, are considerably dearer in Invercargill than in either Christchurch or Dunedin. Again, taking strawberries, a reasonable pottle here costs, if one is fortunate, one shilling, but more often than not, 1/2 whereas for lOd in Dunedin one could procure similar fruit. If the strawberries come from Central Otago, would the fruit merchant explain how much additional freight is payable on their transit to Invercargill in comparison with that charged to Dunedin? Even if the fruit comes from Waimate each pottle could not possibly cost at least threepence extra from Dunedin to your city.”