THE “NEW POOR.”

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160723, 9 August 1920, Page 8

THE “NEW POOR.”

The plight of the “new poor” is distressing in the young ,countries, but it is deplorable at Home. In the Dominion the people who have been hardest hit during the past six years of rapidly rising prices are those who are neither members of trade unions who have received increased wages through the Arbitration Court, nor members of the Public Service who have gained the ear of the Government. A large section of the community with fixed incomes and wages are in a comparatively parlous position, and the increases granted to the more fortunate classes mentioned intensify their difficulties. They include the superannuated public servants, the thrifty people who have saved for old age, those who have invested their savings in various classes of business having figured on a return which would keep them in frugal comfort, many who conduct small businesses, and the relatively largo number of people who are unorganised. Increasing prices are tha ever-present anxiety of all these, and the prices of necessaries in tha Old Land are, of course, much higher than here. Sir Herbert Brown, a leading English miller, prophesies a price of 2/- for the 41b loaf, and increases are certain in other necessaries. Various ingenious attempts are being made to circumvent the upward tendency. A retired major, for instance, writes to a London daily paper, telling how he and his wife have attempted to off-set the increased laundry charges by converting the bathroom into a wash-house. They have not yet attempted the starched linen, but they hope later to save a few pence per week under that head. Others are doing odd jobs in painting, paper-hanging, and carpentry. Clothes #re being macTe at home, home dying is developing into a fine art, and boots and shoes are being repaired by hands as yet unaccustomed to the new tasks arising from the necessity which knows no law. Home-made gloves are now being wo'rn. They are cut out of wash leather, smartly fringed at the wrist, and sewn in black on the outside. In the meantime closer attention is being given to the failure of the method of increasing wages in the hope of overtaking rising prices, and even those who have received substantial wage increases are seeking a more equitable solution.