STANDARD OF LIVING.

Colonist, Volume LXII, Issue 15214, 30 October 1919, Page 2

STANDARD OF LIVING.

IS IT TOO HIGH? SIR JOHN FINDLAY'S OPINION. _____ In an address last week Sir John I Finaiay, after referring to the high price of living, reduced' production, waste in the quality, quantity and oo \ cupation of "that total of vital human energy which is the priceless asset of j a nation,'.' said that such waste spelt j reduced production and increased cost of living, tie then went on to speak of the standard of living regarded and required as satisfactory and 'reasonable uy the people". "It is quite clear," said Sir John, "that if the standard of living for the mass of tne people wnich to-day prei vails in, say, Japan or China, were tho accepted and prevailing .standard of living in New Zealand, there would' be no such thing as the problem of the cost of living here, because it cannot be disputed that ttie remuneration of our workers would be adequate for that low standard. But we in this country would rightly deem such a standard not only unfitting and insufficient for our physical health and yigtur, but as a disgrace to our civilisation. $Tou cannot get that higher development- o'i intellectual and moral character which we associate with true national progress without such a standard of living of che masses as will give some variety ito the interests, tastes an.d pleasure's of life. "The' standard, of course, may be placed too high, and .there is not a little justification for the criticism that some of the complaints we hear arc rather against the cost of high living. Many attempts have been made to proscribe the elements which should constitute a reasonable standard of comfort for the mass of the. civilised people; but it seems to me that the ataudard is quite beyond any exact definition. Notwithstanding this fact,however, it may be confidently claimed that the rewards and wages of labour of the great mass of the people in this country are not adequate for the poii.lianeuo maintenance of that standard of comfort which a people living in a country so rich in all natural resources as this are reasonably entitled to expect."