Frost zur "Nonru-Cmia DAL News" oF Ocroner 1, 1870
After the abominable potatoes to which we have been condemned for a long time, we were glad to eat some very good Australian ones supplied to us yesterday by Mr. Barker. As we believe the Szechuen potatoes lately advertised for sale at the Zung Shing More in Smith's market wil be pro-^urable regularly, the prospects for the futüre are becoming brighter.
Since August 28 the Chinese dollar has shown a downward trend once reaching as low as 5% in terms of U.S. currency on September 5. Slight improvements were observed later but the main feature of foreign exchange during the month was one of downward tendency. The average exchange rate of September in terms of U.S. currency was 5%. This is 562 per cent. lower than in August but still 1351 per cent. higher than that of the first complete week in May when the rate was at its record ow position and prices'soared as a result. A comparison of the average retail prices in September of various items with those in that particular week is listed below:
It is thus seen that while the value of the Chinese dollar during the month was higher than during the frst complete week of May, retail prices are much higher than at that time. Study of the effects of foreign exchange on retail prices during the last five months shows that prices rise immediately whenever exchange drops, but drop only very slightly when the Chinese dollar strengthens, Recovery and subsequent relapse after the first fall in May in the exchange market have produced a more undesirable effect on cost of living than if the exchange rate has stayed at the low reached in May."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.