A story on the front page of The Canberra Times on this day in 1968 detailed a federal government inquiry to be held into the cost of living in Canberra. At a meeting at Albert Hall the night prior, then-member for the ACT Mr J. R. Fraser told about 150 people he had a mandate from the electors to seek an inquiry which would examine the cost of living in Canberra. In addition to this, he said there was a need to investigate the specific needs of people living in the ACT, such as winter clothing and heating. He said if people did not believe the cost of living to be too high, they should question why so many workers needed jobs and why so many married women were working. He called for a separate wage of special allowance for Canberrans, and a government inquiry to establish this requirement. According to Mr Fraser, one of the reasons for the high cost of living was the manipulation of land released by the federal government, causing companies to pay high premiums for land. These prices were being passed on to consumers, he said. Dr J. Cairns, a Labor member for Victoria, told the meeting that one of the reasons for the high prices in Canberra was less competition than elsewhere. The only way to change the price structure was to change the structure of the Australian economy.