THE PRICE OF LIVING.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12906, 19 February 1906, Page 7

THE PRICE OF LIVING.

AT CURRENT RATES IX DUNEDIN

Isn't really very much more than it used to be a iew years ago, but there are people who say it has gone up -with a sudden jerk; and so an inquirer has been sent to learn about, it. The fact- is, slow, 'seductive luxury is sliding its tentacles round us. We are too lat and contented; we eat too much, and we are cultivating tastes" which are only diseased exaggeiations of healthy appetites and desires. People say "It costs us more to live than it used to do." The inquirer feels bound to reply, .-' Yes; but it needn't—at least, not much." The price of existence varies little, but desires increase with good times. Fossicking promiscuously in a general dealer's books, the inquirer gathered. a few facts that show the trend of things. A little space of years ago 1 this dealer, when he sent out to collect his' Stock, used to order 501b of loose currants. They were good enough for his customers in those days. Now he buys only 251b in the loose, and the rest in cartons with a pink ribbon and a picture on the outside. The box and the ribbon mean, probably, a penny a pound more to the customer, and so with other things. Three penn'orth of plain blacking used -to be good- enough to buy for boot- cleaning at one time; now we must have something in a tin at three times the price. It is the trail of the label god; the fascination of the picture on. the box. . Several housewives told the writer of this article that living has .become a more costly privilege than -it was, not very long ago. . Speaking- in that fine, broad way that people have, they said that everything has grown dearer. Lodging-house keepers said the same thing. They found their business growing more and more difficult, and less and less, profitable. The one hotelkeeper asked about it didn't know. ■lt» wasn't-the meals-he.sold that kept him alive, he said. That fact was obvious.

The people who live on the things they buysaid that the cost of living was greater. Yet, the people who sell the things that the other people live on said that the cost of living was not greater. Clearly, it- is not unreasonable to assume a little bias on. each side of the argument; but- the one may balance the other, and the relation remains the same. * Meat, a housewife says, is up; meat, a butcher says, is noraial. Meat, as a matter of fact, sells in a comparatively firm market. It lias its ups and downs, but there are agencies that hold prices steady, more or less. Just now mutton, for instance, is up a little. The Bakers' Association hold bread at sixpence. Lighting grows cheaper. Gas remains at the old rate of nice and twopence a thousand—if you pay quick enough you get it for six and threepence. Kerosene- is cheaper than ever it was. You. the" case of 8 1-3 imperial gallons. Years ago people thought it worth 18s a case. Paraffin candles at 6d a pound cost less than ever before. Good local coal may be -had for 18s a ton, \ and outside coals have grown cheaper. The inevitable reduction in the quantity of timber available for firewood has made that necessary become dearer. Rents, of course, are higher than they were a long time ago, but there has been no serious rise in. the last few years—only the inevitable steady lifting that comes with groVth. To be more exact, you can get a house for, say, 16s a. : week,now; .. just as you could before. But' "the particular honsd that was rented at. 16s a week: five years ago may be £1 : a week now. It is a question of locality. Milk has stayed 'at 4d' a "quart for some time. ~ The price bf eggs varies periodically, and" this- summer eggs didn't go so | low as some people expected them to. .During the last two years sago, rice, and tapioca have touched- the lowest price ever j known. This month -they have risen a penny a pound from' some unexplained cause—possibly the Eastern war. The price of tea goes down steadily. The best factory butter may now lie bought for Is Id a pound. Some years ago Is 6t) was the recognised price. There han h(:<:n a recent fall in the cost of sugar. Oatmeal has a very fluctuating market—from £7 to £l2 a ton. It. recently touched ■top figure, but has come down again. In the face of these facts, it would brs ra«h to say that the price of being alive in dancing up very much higher than ui<ual just now. Potatoes have been the worHt. offenders in price-raising; but their <lay« of boom are coming-to an end'. There are "cheap days in the fish market, but one ■never -khows-when to expect', them. From, inquiries'made it seems obvious tHat : fruit might - in- general be sold at cheaper rates with less risk and quicker return to the retailer. There is some, strong feeling anent the fruits and fish markets. - Bootshave gone up in price, and a further risewould not be surprising. Mercers say that there is little variation in their lines. Wool prices make small difference in the finished article. Clothing generally costs as much as usual. Women have the advantage, if they Bke to use it. Good silk or old lace, etc., may remain at. the old figure, but the skill of the manufacturer has enabled him to turn out lines of cheap material as serviceable, for all usual purposes, as very much dearer ones. But, of course, ladies will scoff at this suggestion. They will admit that for a pound a dress may be made as becoming as one that cost' £5 durability isn't wanted mostly. But the .unfortunate part j of it is that, however becoming and dainty and sufficient a cheap gown may be, the j perceiving feminine eye knows it for what it is. And so Mrs Brown, with the] modesty of twenty-one and twopence, real-

ises the superiority of Mrs Jones at-forty-four and eight; * -while the tailor-made mightiness of Sirs Robinson at six guineas overpowers both. People who know agree that the secret of sales is display. The temptation of the well-arranged shop window is a very strong and real thing, and the tempters grow daily m»re subtle. This must be reckoned a factor in the argument.—{Dunedin " Star.")