Fiji’s Cost of Living
p. 100 · Read in the full issue
Continues to Soar
From Our Own Correspondent
Suva. Nov. 6.
TO meet the increased cost of foodstuffs and wages, all Indian cafes in Suva have been permitted to raise their charges by 12i per cent. This follows close on the increases of tariffs at Fiii hotels. (See elsewhere this issue).
Suva taxi operators also have applied for a higher schedule of fares because of the mounting costs of petrol, oil and ve hicles. For most people, however, the cost of living problem centres on food, clothing and shelter.
Butter is a scarce, luxury item; beef is scarcely fit to eat; dalo (taro) is fre quently unobtainable, this being the off season, and a serious suggestion has peen made that the limited supply of dalo at Suva should be reserved for the Fijians in the same way as rice was formerly reserved, by law, for Indians and Chinese; lettuce, like many other vegetables, has been badly affected by the record rain fall this year; fruit is expensive and of poor quality, all imported foodstuffs are dear, and eggs, at round about 4/- a dozen, are now at their cheapest after reaching a peak of more than 6/- in many places.