My uncle Julius pointed out recently that a frequently heard lament in this era of high inflation and the low purchasing power of money runs similar to this: "When ah was small you couda take five dollars in de shop and get groceries for a month." True as this may have been, he also noted that the process of earning said five dollars was often the work of a month as well. Indeed when one looks at the prices of yesteryear, it seems as if we have missed out on an idyllic and easy time.Imagine being able to walk into the showroom of Charles McEnearney and Co in 1931, plunk down a whole $740 (not even the ticket price of a decent all-inclusive fete these days) and drive away with a brand new Ford Model A Phaeton.How about shelling out a princely $3 a night (inclusive of breakfast) to stay at a deluxe suite in the Queen's Park Hotel which was considered to be the finest hostelry in the West Indies?It sounds almost too good to be true, except when it is pointed out that in the same year a new car cost a few hundred dollars, and the wages of a servant in a posh household did not exceed $7 a month.Teachers were considered well-paid at $30; and the highest remunerations were, of course, in the oilfields to the south of the island.In the bush near Fyzabad and Point Fortin, white drillers made a staggering $250 monthly and the Governor of the period earned approximately $15,000 per annum which was a stupendous amount.
In the sugarcane fields, the estate labourers were paid according to "task" work (weeding, planting, harvesting) at 25 cents per task. There was no public pension at the time and those who could not earn their bread in their old age either depended on the kindness of others or faced being interned at the "Poor House" in Woodbrook.The circumstances of the working class would seem dire, especially since families were often quite large.The economic situation, however, was sometimes mitigated because in this era, many people kept a kitchen garden and thus needed fewer purchased foodstuffs, while there were no utility expenses outside of Port-of-Spain and San Fernando which had electricity.Every village had its shop which was most often associated with the Chinese–or to a lesser extent, Madiera–immigrants. These were the lifeline between the town and countryside.The country shopkeepers were perceived as being profiteers because their merchandise usually cost a bit more due to the transport costs of freighting in goods via railway or the island steamer service.Nevertheless, six cents bought a dozen crackers wrapped in brown paper and another sixpenny added a few slices of oily cheese or a tin of sardines.Those shopkeepers who wished to advertise their competitive pricing would hang a signboard outside which read: "Goods at city prices."
Those not satisfied with the cheap brown cotton and ribbons available in the countryside could ride third-class to Port-of-Spain via the railway for ten to 30 cents according to distance (1920s) and visit dry goods shops like Maillard's and Fogarty's where bright prints could be bought for ten cents per yard, a whole tweed suit for $5, leather boots for $3 and a panama hat for $1.50 (the same hat my sister Carmelita bought me last year for $500).A peep into one of the elite grocery establishments like Canning's or the Ice House would have revealed gourmet victuals like York hams at $1 per pound and a new-fangled breakfast food–Dr Kellogg's Corn Flakes–at 24 cents.Children were expected to exercise scrupulous economy as well. Those who did get pocket money were mostly limited to a penny per day, but this humble copper coin–bearing the face of whichever British monarch was then on the throne–could be stretched to almost infinite limits.
That currency bought six paradise plums wrapped in a bit of white paper, a large lollipop, copious amounts of sugar cake, toolum, chilli-bibbi or sticky elastic sweets known as "mintips."
Limers had it fairly good as well, with a shot of rum at six cents and 40 cents for a bottle. Saturday at the cinema for the matinee cost 24-30 cents for balcony seats and as little as ten cents in the pit with a pack of salted nuts at three cents for munching on and a five-cent Coca Cola. Next time you buy a $50 fast food lunch, think back on the prices of yesteryear.