COST OF LIVING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20104, 10 May 1935, Page 8

COST OF LIVING

INCREASE RECORDED According to the monthly Abstract of Statistics issued for April, the cost of living throughout New Zealand has increased during the last year from the index 851 to 874. Both figures are based on the index of 1000, secured from the average annual aggregate expenditure in twenty-five towns during the period 1926 to 1930. From March of last year the cost of living index fell steadily until October, when it stood at 817. From then onwards it rose rapidly till it reached 887 ill February of the present year, and then dropped back to 874 in March. As far as food is concerned Auckland has remained the most costly of the four centres to live in, the index numbers for the first quarter of the present year for groceries, dairy produce, and meat being: Wellington, 797; Auckland, 844; Christchurch, 795; Dunedin, 769. Wellington was the dearest place for groceries and dairy produce, but came third for meat. The cheapest meat was secured by Dunedin, and the dearest by Auckland, with Christchurch second. It will thus be seen that the high cost of food in Auckland is due to the price of meat there. Rent in Wellington was considerably above the other four centres, the index being: Wellington, 958; Dunedin, 797; Christchurch, 749; Auckland 704. Fuel and light costs were highest in Christchurch, where the index was 974. Wellington was second with 865, Auckland 847, and Dunedin 683.