The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1921. BRITAIN’S FALLING C.O.L.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18163, 27 April 1921, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1921. BRITAIN’S FALLING C.O.L.

The cost of living began to fall in the Mother Country | in November last, according to the monthly official figures issued by the statistical branch of the Ministry of Labour, and- it has continued" to fall since then. Writing under date February 24, a London correspondent states that experts in a position to judge were of opinion that the fall would continue until the arrival of autumn —that is for (at least six .months from the time of writing. According to the correspondent, this prophecy is based on two things. First, that the end of the present winter is at hand, and under normal conditions food supplies are more plentiful and less dear in the spring and summer, than in the winter. The difference in this respect is far more marked in a country like England, where there is no growth of grain, vegetables or grass for five or six months of the year, than in a country like Australia with its mild, brief winter. The second factor which assists the task of prophecy with regard to a continued fall in the cost of living, is that State control of food supplies, which'was imposed during the war, is ending. State control, which is now limited to a 'few imported foodstuffs, his latterly been a factor in keeping up' prices above the world’s market levels, because the Food Ministry had accumuj lated large stocks which were bought I at a time when prices were high. | The Ministry has beep reluctant to

part with these stocks at a loss. Many hard things have been said about the Ministry for maintaining some prices at an artificial level, but if the Ministry had adopted the policy of cutting its losses, the taxpayer j would have had to make good these i losses. The Ministry is entitled to place to its credit the fact that during the war, when its control over food supplies was widespread, it kept down prices at the hands of food speculators and profiteers, and by its system of rationing staple foods, such as meat, bread, sugar and fats, equalised distribution during the months of food shortage, and abolished the food queues. The official j figures are made up on the first of ieach month, and therefore define the I position in the preceding month.

The figures for Ist December show a • • fall of 7 points; this was followed : : next month by a fall of 4 points, and :: a more substantial drop of 14 points |i was recorded on Ist February. An [ official engaged in compiling these j statistics expressed in February the • opinion that the fall to be recorded on Ist March would be at least 20 points. These estimates of the cost of living are based on the pre-war expenditure of an average working class family of 5.6 persons (28 persons to "five families) on food, rent, clothing, fuel, light and miscellaneous articles, chiefly of household use. Beer, spirits and tobacco are regarded as luxuries, and therefore excluded. It is assumed that expenditure i on food account for 60 per cent, of the cost of maintaining the home; rent, 16 per cent.; clothing, 12 per cent.; fuel and light, 8 per cent., and miscellaneous items, 4 per cent. The foods which are included in the estimate are beef, mutton, bacon, fish, flour, bread potatoes, tea, sugar, milk, butter, margarine, cheese and I eggs. The chief foods which have [fallen in price during the past three I months are flour, bread, bacon, eggs, [butter, margarine, jam, tea, sugar, . cocoa and rice. There have also j been substantial reductions in cloth- [ ing, boots, glassware, crockery and kitchenware, and slight reductions in I soap and candles. Meat shows very I little reduction from the maximum I prices which were reached in the Christmas season of 1920. The stocks of Australian and New Zea- [ land beef and mutton bought by the i British Government during the war have not been exhausted, and prices will not fall materially until they bave been got rid of. The prices at which imported meat is sold cover high transport charges and cold •storage for long periods. In Febru-1 : ary legs of frozen mutton were [ [bringing 1/3 per lb., and shoulders' 1/1. Lamb brings 4d. per lb. more than mutton. Choice cuts of chilled or frozen beef were selling at 1/5 to 1/7 per lb. All these prices are more than double the prices prevail- [ ing before the war. While the Gov--1 ernment maintains high prices for ■ its stocks of imported meat English farmers are able to obtain abnormal prices for their cattle, as the demand for home-killed meat is greater than for imported. Home-killed beef brings from 1/10 to 2/- per lb. for choice cuts, and home-killed mutton about 2d. per lb. more than beef. English pork has been bringing from 2/- to'2/6 per lb., but a drop followed the importation of supplies of _ fresh pork from Holland. Bread is coming down gradually, but is still at an artificial price owing to the fact that the Ministry of Food holds , I large stocks of wheat and flour purd chased when prices were higher than they are to-day. According to the - present price of wheat in the world’s ■ markets the quartern loaj in England should be lOd.