Western Star WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. FRIDAY JULY 10, 1936. COST OF LIVING.

Western Star, 10 July 1936, Page 2

Western Star WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. FRIDAY JULY 10, 1936. COST OF LIVING.

Notwithstanding the recent announcement of the Prime Minister the cost of commodities has shown a general rise. A s the Government has. decreed a forty-hour week and an increase in all wages, it would- be an impossible task to make both ends meet if prices were kept at a former level. The Prime Minister himself is dubious on the matter, for he recently stated if increases in the. price of commodities cannot be prevented by the regulations it will , be done by State competition, a method which had many disastrous sequences in countries where it has been tried, particularly in Australia, where the enormous losses incurred by that country’s control of State shipping and in other industrial enterprises are still fresh in the memory of those who follow these questions. A favourite argument of Ministers is that by the enhanced wage bill to be paid by industry, and the employment of more hands, with the prosecution of an ambitious i public works policy, the spending power of the people, will be substantially strengthened, so, that what the.employers lose oil the swings they will gain on the, roundabouts. That is only partially the case. It is true that with more money in circulation the b us i' ness community will benefit, but to assume that all the wage increases are to be spent as they are earqed is- a mistake The returns of the savings, banks and other institutions show that the Dominion contains a large number of thrifty people, and it is safe to assume that a considerable amount of the extra money will be devoted to making provision for “he future. It is further clear that iflthe household bills of the worker are tp be much heavier than they are at present he will not, benefit under-the new conditions to the, extent that he anfc'cipated. • Then there is the case of the people,of small means who are not wage earners and who will suffer hardship from the rise in price levels. It is known that many businesses held their own in the depression years with the greatest of "difficulty. They are still- working on' the slenderest of margins, and it is obvious that a- big jjocrease ill overhead must, to put it mildly, cause them grave embarrassment. ’Competition, unhampered, by unnecessary restrictions, is the life of trade, and anything that tends to discourage private enterprise must be detrimental to the Dominion in the long run. The Government, however, ha s tlnown the doctrine of free competition into the discard, and is committed to a policy of regulation, with £he implication of price-fixing. • It is' a dangerous proceeding, and the result will depend in great measure on the wisdom with which the new legislation is applied. The sincerity of Ministers is not in question. What does give rise to uneasiness is the feeling that a venture has been made into an uncharted sea and neither the member s of the Cabinet no r anyone else is in a position to say whether the obvious perils will be passed and a safe bar en reached. As an illustration of the rise in wages the coal miners in the Nightcaps district were earning: anything from 25s to 35s per day.. With the increase in wages they can now make. 45s a day. This cost has to be borne by the general public who . are now" asked to pay an additional 7s per ton. for their coal.