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 Engineers’
 Case, 1921.