LIVING IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7808, 12 September 1903, Page 4

LIVING IN CHRISTCHURCH.

. -V THE COST OF ARTICLES. TEN YEARS AGO AND NOW. In some respects the cost of living in Christchurch has risen greatly during th(o past ten years. The most notable rise has been in rent. . Rents all round have risen fully 25 per cent, and for small cottages a great deal more. Ten years ago, comfortable houses of four, five or six rooms, could be obtained for six shillings a week. -Now it is almost impossible to got them. ft>r eight or ten shillings. This is attributed mainly to the general prosperity, but partly to the fact that very few small cottages are being built now.' It is quite a novelty to see a four-roomed house in course of erection in Ohristchurch. There has also been a large influx of population into the city lately. New-comers are constantly applying to the agents for small houses, and thoy say that they will take whatever they can get. In other respects, the increase seems to have been chiefly in local, products. Tho Christchurch grocers state that tea, rice, sago, tapioca, coffee, jam, dried fruits, currants, raisins, kerosene and similar articles are about the same; if anything, they are slightly cheaper. But bacon and hams have risen about'4o per cent, and eggs about 50 per cent. Cheese that sold for 4d and 5d ten years ago, is now sold for 6d, 7d or Bd. This winter, butter has been cheap, but this is attributed to " cutting "in the- trade. A baker, who has been baking in Christ' church for thirty-six years, says that the price of bread ' has been practically at a standstill. Meat, of course, has risen considerably. In the Blue Book for 1893 beef was quoted at 4d per lb, and mutton at 3d per lb. The butchers state t^at their quotations to-day are:—- '_ Beef, from 3d to 7£d ; mutton 4d to fid. Coal „ haa decreased from £2 2s per ton ten 3-ears ago tq £J 19s to-day. '.Firewood has risen 10 per cent, owing, it is stated, to the fact that, the suppliejj entail more expense and difficulty than formerly. Sawn timber has risen from lOs 6d per hundred superficial feet in 1893 to 15s, which is the price quoted on the first of this month.- The 1 quotation is for red pine, which is mostly used in Christchurch. Men's clothes have remained about tlie same. Thera has beeii some increase, and the Christchurch drapers - say that it is nothing like the 16 per cent „ increase which ]\|r Tregear has reported is I the case in regard to Wellington.