Total Weekly Incomes 1597s. 1543s. _The Household Budgets in the "S" Group were separately tested and the following results were obtained:--_ ------------------------------+------------------------------------- | INCOME OF HOUSEHOLD. |-------+------+------+------+-------- Proportion of Expenditure | Under | £3 | £4 | £5 | £6 under each of the following | £3 | | | | upwards sub-divisions:-- | | | | | |-------+------+------+------+-------- Food | 61·1 | 60·4 | 56·3 | 48·0 | 41·4 Clothing | 15·7 | 13·7 | 19·3 | 19·4 | 17·7 Rent | 5·3 | 6·6 | 5·0 | 8·8 | 12·4 Fuel and Light | 8·7 | 7·6 | 7·3 | 8·1 | 9·0 Sundries | 9·2 | 11·7 | 12·1 | 15·7 | 19·5 |-------+------+------+------+-------- Total | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | | | | | ------------------------------+-------+------+------+------+-------- This test showed that the budgets we used conformed with common experience, and is, therefore, evidence of their reliability. (_b_) _Comparison of English and Irish Weights._ The weights used in England in compiling the British index figure were compiled from budgets collected as long ago as 1904. These show a pre-war standard of living and the final index figure shows the percentage increase in expenditure necessary to maintain that precise standard of living absolutely unchanged at the present day. We were not in possession of any Irish figures by which the pre-war standard of living could be accurately measured, and it was accordingly necessary for us to obtain budgets showing the present standard of living. Our final index figure therefore shows the percentage increase in expenditure which would have been necessary to maintain the present standard of living absolutely unchanged from July, 1914, to the present day. It has been seen that according to the figures compiled by us, 57.1s. out of every 100s. is spent on food in Irish wage-earning class households; 17.5s. on clothing, and so on, and it is of interest to compare these "weights" with the corresponding figures calculated by the English Ministry of Labour from the "United Kingdom" Budgets of 1904, which relate to the pre-war "United Kingdom" Standard of Living and which are still in use in England. The following table shows the proportion of each 100s. spent by Wage-Earning Class Households which is spent on (1) Food, (2) Clothing, (3) Rent, (4) Fuel and Light, and (5) Sundries:--