§ Mr. Rileyasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether there has been any survey of the increased cost of living since the beginning of the war in Sierra Leone; and what are the steps which have been, or are being, taken to maintain the purchasing power of wages in relation to increased prices?
§ Colonel StanleyA survey of the cost of living in Freetown, Sierra Leone, was made in February, 1941, and a further and more comprehensive survey was instituted at the end of last year. The report on this second survey has not yet been received. The chief economic problem of Sierra Leone, as of other British West African Colonies, is that of the large amount of purchasing power in the hands of wage-earners, owing to the large amount of work available on military and other projects, and to the brisk demand for Sierra Leone's export products. Measures are constantly being taken by price control and otherwise to check the resulting inflationary tendency, which is aggravated by the unavoidable shortage of many types of consumer goods on which the wage-earner would normally spend part of his income.