The cost of living, as calculated by the Board of
Trade figures, fell on April 1st to 133 per cent. above the standard of July, 1914. It is thus nearly the same as it was a year ago ; in the interval the index-figure had risen to 176 for November last and has since declined rapidly. Wages in several industries are fixed in relation to the cost of living and will fall with it, thus reducing still further the citizen's expenditure and benefiting the wage-earner. If retail prices moved downwards with wholesale prices as quickly as they move upwards, the cost of living would be considerably less than it is. Apart from the automatic reductions of wages thus brought about, the shipbuilding employers and workmen agreed on Tuesday to a reduction of 6s. a week for time-workers and of 15 per cent. for piece-workers, to be effected in two instalments in May and June. The shipyard workers have faced the facts of trade depression manfully, and have set a good example to the miners.
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