The Registrar-General gives us some definite figures as to the
rise of prices of which housekeepers complain so much. It has been very considerable, wheat, for instance, in the quarter end- ing 1st August, was 56s. 5d. a quarter, instead 51s. 6d., the average of the previous ten years. Potatoes were 212s. 6d. a ton, instead of 107s. 6d., that is, very nearly double the average ; and coals 29s. 3d. a ton, instead of 16s. 2d., a rise, of course, calcu- lated on all descriptions, but heaviest in the superior kinds. Meat rose about lid. for beef and mutton, lid. in the wholesale market, the rise again being heavier in the primer cuts. Never- thelese, the people have been prosperous, the rime in wages having been great, and the number of marriages, a sure index of pros- perity, unusually large. The extraordinary thing is the way in which the public adjusts itself to a rise of price. Three months ago we were all raging at the price of coals. It has not seriously decreased, and now we are quite content, apparently, to bear with coal at 40s. for the rest of our lives.
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