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CHAPTER X.
HIGH COST OF LIVING.
Temporary nature of Recommendations
178,
Our attempt to establish a satisfactory scale Tor a temporary high cost of living allowance, the need for which was manifest from the first day on which we heard evidence, has not satisfiol us. What we propose is the best we have been able to achieve on the available cvidence. It is conservative and it may serve as a temporary measure until adequate statistics have been assembled and scientifically interpreted in what we hope may become a quarterly or at most a half-yearly survey of the cost of living.
University Survey.
179.
No attempt has yet been made towards the compilation of a comprehensive series of cost of living indices. In 1939-1941 the Economics Department of the University of Hong Kong attempted to establish an index for the poorest employed class. Experience from the first proved that the filling of forms by people in this class gave almost no satisfactory data. It was found necessary to make use of the services of a large number of Cantonese speaking students of Economics who had been trained in the procedure of this kind of investigation. A generalised report on this survey remains but all the materials on which it was based were destroyed during the Japanese occupation. Nevertheless the report is likely still to have a value when the compilation of indices is taken in hand.
The Food and Fuel Index.
180.
The Labour Office compiles weekly a Food and Fuel Index of which "Rehabilitation Allowance", a high cost of living Allowance paid to skilled and unskilled labour, is reviewed. The weakness of this index for our purpose is that it surveys too narrow an area of commodities and is limited to what in effect is a single class of the community.
Surveys by the Government Statistical Officer.
181.
Two surveys mado against pressure of time by the Statistical Officer have been of very great service, one based on budgets furnished by members of the European Civil Service Association and one covering income ranging betwoon $200 and 8900, i.c. what broadly can be called the "white collar" class of Government servants. These surveys are submitted as part of the material on which this Report is based.
Limitations of these Curveys.
182.
We were not able to accept all the conclusions drawn from thesc surveys, the first being a cost of living inquiry based on a narrow range of family budgets and the second, an attempt to establish a retail price index. Our doubts wore the outcome of three considerations:-