§ Mr. CLOUGHasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give the latest figures showing the relative increases in the cost of living as compared with pre-War standards in Great Britain, France, Italy, the United States, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden; and, if possible, in Germany and Austri-Hungary?
§ Mr. PARKERI have been asked to answer this question on behalf of my right hon. Friend, and propose, with the permission of the House, to do so by means of the tabular statement appended. I may point out (1) with regard to Austria, that no trustworthy figures are available for measuring the height to which the cost of living has risen; (2) with regard to Germany, that in the absence of any official computation, use has been made of the calculations of a well-known German authority on economics and statistics—Herr Richard Calwer. It may be as well also to point out that, while the percentages given are derived from the most authoritative source of statistical information in each country, the differences in the nature and scope of the data used, in the methods of combining such data and in the periods for which the rise is measured, would suggest the need for exercising reserve in drawing conclusions from a comparison between the figures for any two countries.
921W
STATEMENT SHOWING PERCENTAGE RISE IN THE "COST OF LIVING" IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND CERTAIN FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AS MEASURED BY THE MOST RECENT COMPUTATIONS OF THE OFFICIAL STATISTICIAN OP EACH COUNTRY. Country. Calculated percentage rise. Latest date (or period) to which figures are carried. Date or period from which rise is computed. Principal groups of articles taken as basis of computation. Per cent. United Kingdom … 130 1st March, 1920 July, 1914 Food, fuel, lighting, clothing, rent and sundries. France: Paris … 197 February, 1920 July, 1914 Food, fuel and lighting. Other Towns … 220 1st Quarter, 1920 3rd Quarter, 1914 Italy: Rome … 193 February, 1920 1st Half, 1914 Food, fuel, lighting, clothing, rent and sundries. Milan … 282 February, 1920 1st Half, 1914 United States … 96* February, 1920 July, 1914 Food only. Belgium … 296 January, 1920 April, 1914 Food, fuel, lighting, clothing, etc. Denmark … 142 January, 1920 July, 1914 Norway … 201 December, 1919 July, 1914 Sweden … 159 January, 1920 July, 1914 Germany† … 356 December, 1919 July, 1910 Food only. * In October, 1919, the rise in the cost of living in the U.S.A. (not food only) was officially ascertained to be 83 per cent. above the level of 1913. In the same period the rise in the level of food prices alone amounted to 88 per cent. † The figure in this case is not official, but is computed by Herr Richard Calwer, editor of Die Konjunktur, and a statistician of recognised competence in Germany.