COST OF LIVING.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 11 June 1924, Page 9 (Supplement)

COST OF LIVING.

IN THE EARLY DAYS. The following is a list of retail prices in Timaru in June 1864, published in the “Timaru Herald” of June 11th. Housewives can compare the prices with those of to-day:—Sugar 6d to 8d per lb, tea 3/- to 3/3, coffee i/8 to 2/1, butter, Cork 2/-, Wellington fresh 2/4, cheese, English 1/6, colonial 1/4; bacon 1/6, hams 1/6, currants 9d, dried apples 9d, assorted jams 1/8, salmon 2/- per tin, sardines 1/- per tin, candles, sperm 1/6, tallow 1/-; bread, 41b loaf 1/6, flour 5d lb, 42/- per sack of 1961b5, or £2O per ton; potatoes 10/- cwt., onions 6d lb, eggs 5/- per doz, beef 1/-, mutton 1/-, pork, 1/- per lb, tobacco 6/- to 8/- lb. Wheat was quoted that year at 6/- to 7/- per bushel, oats 6/- to 7/-. .A store in Lyttelton advertised in 1863, prices of clothing as follows: —All wool Crimean shirts 6/6, Scotch twill shirts, 2/6, boys’ serge shirts 3/6, doeskin trousers 12/-, moleskin do. from 5/-, tweed coats 14/-, tweed caps 1/6, felt hats 5/-, men’s socks 7d, blucher boots 5/The following were advertised Timaru prices in 1868:—Currants 6-jd, sultanas 1/-, jams 1/-, sugar 6-ld, treacle 6d, arrowroot 1/3, sago Bd, marmalade 1/6, rice sd, maizena 1/-, groats 1/3, oatmeal 4d, flour lOOlbs 22/-, split peas sd, water biscuits 9d, coffee 1/8, tea 3/9, salt 2d, bacon 1/-, eggs 1/6, salmon 1/9, candles 1/6, English soap 2/3 bar, kerosene 5/- gal. Freight from Lyttelton was £2 per ton, landing charge 15/- per ton. The “Jubilee History of South Canterbury” states that in 1860 the wages of ordinary labourers was 8/- and of skilled workers 9/- to 12/- a day. These were increases on the wages of 1850, owing to the finding of gold in Australia. From 1860 to 1869 the wages of ordinary labourers fell to 6/- and 7/- a day, and in 1869 fell to 5/- and 6/- day. The pay of smiled labour was but slightly less in the lattir year than in 1860. In 1864 experienced domestic servants were paid £25 to £3O a year. In 1870 young “married couples”"received £SO to £6O a year, and single men for farm work £3O to £lO. The cost of living and its relation to wages is a popular subject of. discussion now-a-days. We find nothing on the subject of cost of living earlier than 1874, fifty years ago, when the “Timaru Herald” of September 4th published a statement by a newly arrived immigrant, in reply to an editorial remark that 6/- a day in Canterbury was better than £3O a year and found in England. The immigrant supplied the fouowing comparison:— England, salary £3O; 3651bs lbs mutton at lOd, £ls 4s 2d; 521bs butter at 1/-, £3 0s 3d; bread, 4d per day, £6 Is. 8d; tea, sugar, coffee, 2/- a week, £5 4s; potatoes, 1/9 a week, £4 11s 4a; coals, 1/6 a week, £3 18s; washing, 1/6 a week, £3 18s; rent £7; rates, £2 10s; light £2; clothing and boots £4 10s; soap, blacking, pepper, etc., £2; total £B9 17s lOd. New Zealand, 6/- per day, £93 18s a year—a difference of £4 in favour of New Zealand’s 6/- a day.