COST OF LIVING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 883, 8 December 1916, Page 6

COST OF LIVING.

MUNICIPAL SHOPS. SOCIALISE THE FOOD MARKETS. i The world can produce more than i enough lor its children —if waste and monopoly do not prevent the | food from reaching those who need it. This fact is again proved by the interim report of the Board of Trade (England), Departmental Committee appointed, under the chairmanship of Mr J. M. Robertson, M.P., to investigate the principal causes which have led to the increase of prices of commodities since the beginning of the war, says "Public Opinion."' The document deals specifically with meat, milk and bacon, but the numerous recommendations embrace far-reaching proposals of wider application. All the members of the Committee sign the report, although on the important (pieslion of regulating prices | there is a difference of opinion. The Committee as a whole propose: That in the case of direct puri chases of meat by the Government —which should be increased —such conditions should be imposed as would ensure its sale to consumers at reasonable prices, and That where there is reason to believe that excessive profits are being exacted, local authorities should be empowered to open municipal shops for the sale of milk, meat, bacon, and other necessaries. With a view to ameliorating the situation produced by the increase of prices they further urge that steps should be taken by the Government, public bodies, and employers generally to improve the position of all workers who have not yet suflijciently benefited by the general rise in wages. The Progressive Seven. Seven of the twelve members of the Committee—Mr W. C. Anderson, M.P., Mr T. Brodrick, Sir Gilbert Claughton, Mr J. R. Clynes, M.P., Mr Drummond Fraser, Mrs Pember Reeves and Mr T. Shaw—desire to go farther. They believe that the inflation of prices and the making of large profits can be effectively checked only by far-reaching Government action, including large purchases of meat and bacon from abroad. The memorandum appended to the report by the seven members who urge State regulation of prices is as follows: "We have signed the recommendations agreed to by all the members of the Committee, being of opinion that if these recommendations are co-ordinated into a working scheme they will have a distinctly steadying effect upon prices. But, in addition, we would urge the following proposals. The present circumstances, being altogether exceptional ■ and abnormal, lend themselves i readily to the inflation of prices and I the making of large profits, and we think the evil cannot be effectively checked short of Government action, which must be wise and well considered, but at the same time farreaching. The Government, we ; think, should more and more enlarge its purchases of meat and bacon from outside sources, and, where possible, become the sole purchaser, and should insist upon the purchasing public getting the full benefit of advantageous buying. Too Much Profit. "We think the recommendations should also have dealt with the home supplies of meat, bacon, and milk. In many cases far too much profit is being made by the home producers, and_we are of opinion that a large measure of public control should be exercised over these home supplies and reasonable prices should be fixed. There is no new principle in this. The Board of Trade, which has taken wide action in respect to the price of coal, is now extending its powers. "We know of no adequate reason why the public control of prices should not embrace the primary foodstuffs produced at home. In regard to the milk industry, for instance, a committee of men and women acquainted with the conditions of the trade might be appointed to regulate prices, taking all the factors fully into account, and endeavouring to act fairly as between the farmers, the distributors, and the public. "We believe that machinery could be set up by Parliament which, whilst allowing for the increased cost of production and distribution, and laying clown safeguards to prevent a decrease in the number of milch cows, would eliminate from ! milk prices any element of extortion 'and encourage more efficient organijsation in distribution." All Agreed. Among other proposals which all the members of the committee agree in recommending are:— Speeding-up of merchant shipbuilding, particularly for the conveyance of meat. P. vision of adequate clock and railway labour. Further restriction of importation of luxuries. Maintenance of livestock. One meatless day per week ."or all I not engaged in severe manual I labour. ; Importation and sale of Irish milk I at cost price in poor town districts. Collection of information as to ; contracts and wholesale prices. ' Establishment of maternity centres land child nurseries by local authorities, where milk and dinners would •be supplied out of Government | grants. A Meatless Day Each Week. "We urge," says the report, "all I those who are not engaged in severe . 1 manual labour, and who at present .' eat butcher's meat every day, to ab- ' stain from the consumption of but-

cher's meat on one day in each week. ! We believe that a large number of I patriotic citizens are only waiting • for clear and authoritative guidance, i and that such voluntary abstention on the part of the more fortunate, ; while it will have no harmful effect ( on health, will appreciably enlarge , the supply of meat available for the i poorer members of the community. We therefore press this moderate measure of self-denial as a public duty upon all those who know they are in a position to carry it out. "We recommend that the War Oflice should bring under renewed | consideration the question whether • economies could not be effected in the supply of meat to the Army, by improvements in methods of cooking and serving, without any reduction of the amount of meat actually reach_ ing the individual soldier." Higher Cost of Living. ! In a review of the rise of prices in general since the outbreak of war, the Committee remark:— "The evidence taken goes to show that there is less total distress in the country than in an ordinary year of peace, the majority of the classes which chronically suffer from distress being in unusually regular . employment, and that this, together : with the higher wages earned by, and the greater needs of, so many skilled and unskilled workers employed directly and indirectly in the production of munitions of war, has tended to increase considerably, in some directions, the total demand for food. "On the other hand, certain classes ; normally in regular employment, • whose earnings have not risen in the same proportion as the cost of living —for example, the cotton operatives and some classes of day-wage workers and labourers—are hard pressed , by the rise in prices, and actually have to curtail their consumption, . even though the pressure of high i prices may have been mitigated, in • some cases, by the employment of .| members of a fa mil < in munition . works, and by the opening of betterj paid occupations to women. Many I people in receipt of small fixed inj comes necessarily also feel the pressure; and it is obvious that, while .! the total receipts of families past ' | school age may have greatly in- . creased, a family of the same class in which children are within school 1 , age may suffer exceptionally."