IN RELATION TO PUBLIC BORROWING 181 
even more marked. The figures for city municipal assessments 
indicate a much greater relative increase than even those for 
suburban residential areas. Again, for this period, the figures 
for successive sales at auction of business premises contain all 
the essential evidence of a rise in rents far greater than that 
which would be justified by the mere rise in the general price- 
300 
20 
200 
GREZA. 
50 
“A 
1 
4 
— 
. 
100 
-- 
1916 1920 1924 1928 
Fre. XVI. RETAIL PRICES FOR GREAT BRITAIN, US.A, 
AND AUSTRALIA 
level. Similarly the increase in rents in both industrial and 
residential districts was also in excess of that due to the rise in 
prices. This has a most important bearing upon the costs of 
manufacturing, since, in computing wages for the purpose of 
arbitration awards, rent is one of the major factors taken into 
consideration.! The system of calculation used in the fixation 
of wages did not tend to minimize the increased nature of the 
L “The demand for food and housing is constant, urgent, universal; the demand 
for clothing is casual, fluctuating, particular.’—Chief Justice Higgins in the Engi- 
neers’ Case, 1921.