[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR."1 SIR, —I have
reason to be specially interested in the accuracy of the Index Figure of the cost of living, and therefore hare read your articles on the subject with close attention. Surely the first step to give confidence in the figures is for the Ministry of Labour to publish the list of articles with the prices by which their conclusions are reached. Is there a householder in the country who would not be able to form a very fair opinion upon the facts? I do not agree that it is equity in dealing with the comparative cost, 1914 against 1920, to reduce the quality of the budget or to alter the schedule of articles which by impli- cation Mr. Harroway does. Has it occurred to Mr. Harroway that if I lived on bread and water in July, 1914, and it cost use ls. per week for bread and I was still retaining my pre-war standard of living in 1920, it would cost me 2s. 6d. per week, or 150 per cent. increase, without allowing anything for the sub- sidy? If I had lived pre-war on bread and butter my percentage increase would be still more, viz., ls. 4d. 1914, is. 6d. 1920, or 162 per cent. increase. My anxiety is for a standard reference with indisputable credentials. Published details of schedule and prices by the Ministry of Labour would, it appears to me,
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