The Sun FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1914. THE COST OF LIVING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 120, 26 June 1914, Page 6

The Sun FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1914. THE COST OF LIVING.

| There is an interesting intimation in I the Governor's Speech, that legislative j proposals will be laid before the House S this session regarding the cost of living. It probably refers to some scheme for .further enquiry into the subject, and ! perhaps the Government has come to the conclusion that there is something In the proposal so freely advocated in Labour circles, to set up a Board of Industrial Investigation to study the cost t of production, the causes that determine prices, and the relation of prices to wages. With the systematising of wealth production, the elimination of competition, and the general tendency towards combination in /distribution as weir as in manufacture, the statutory regulation" of prices is coining within the scope of practical politics. In some respects it is a logical sequence to vt-he " statutory regulation of the rate of wages. As long as manufacturers and wealth producers were in absolutely free and open competition, unrestricted by arbitration awards, provisions regulating the hours of labour, the rate of wages, compensation for accidents, and so j forth, regulation of the price of the output of labour was unthinkable. But under the modern system, ofwealth pro-, duction, not only is the regulation of prices becoming a necessity, but there must be a statutory output. In other words tlie worker will ultimately be required to attain a eertaiu standard of efficiency in order to qualify for the standard wage, payment of which will depend on a statutory amount of work being done. "Slow' strikes" and limited outputs will not be tolerated. At present there is sufficient statutory: regulation of industrial conditions to protect the-worker up to a point aud to ensure a living wage, but it stops short not only of protecting the employer, but of ensuring the growth, expansion, and increased wealth production in the industries on which the prosperity of the country very largely de : pends. The truth is that in many of" .the manufacturing industries, the persons 1 employed' in them, do little more than earn "their own wages. It may not be altogether thjpir own fault, but the output simply isn't being attained, and the wealth raised by the primary producers goes very largely to -provide work and wages for the employees of the foreign manufacturer in England and America. Any enquiries the Government may set afoot concerning the cost of Jiving, which, after all, is little more than a catch 'phrase, ought to embrace a much wider scope than a mere comparison of prices and wages to-day Avith past years. It ought to go into the cost of production and the value of the output for" which the manufacturer is required by law to pay standard wages. '