COST OF LIVING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 276, 14 August 1908, Page 10

COST OF LIVING.

— 4——' ' ' FACTS ABOUT GERMANY AND ENGLAND. BOARD OF TRADE REPORT. i Tho general result of tbo comparison is to show that in German towns tho 1 workmen engaged in. (certain standard) trades rcceive about 17 per cent, less in money wages in return for a week's work of about 10 per cent.' longer duration than tho .corresponding English workmen. In other words, their hourly rate of money remuneration is about three-quarters of the' corresponding English rate, while the cost of food, rent, and fuel (measured by tho English standard) is about one-fifth higher. The British Board of Trado issued on. Jun® 26 as a Yellow Book of- 550 pages its report on the second part of-the international inquiry it has been conducting'for somo time past on working-class rents, housing, rental prices, and wages. Tho first part 'of the inquiry, which dealt with' conditions in tho United Kingdom, was reported ' upon last January. The present volume deals with life ana labour in the chief towns of- Germany and a comparison of' German and 'British conditions. Thirtjrthreo representative towns hare 'been, investigated, containing ah. aggregate population of some nine millions, over fivo thousand family budgets, have been collected. Particulars have been obtained not only of rents and housing, prices of commodities and cost of living, rates of wages and'hours of labour, but a great variety ! >of supplementary information. This is -first', of all sum-", marised in a general report, the-latter -portion of which' consists in an Anglo-German comparison; - after which a much larger space is given to - detailed repotts for each of the towns where the Board-' of Trado agents conducted an inquiry. .{ " •

Standards of Comparisons, In a prefatory note Mr. Llewellyn Smith comments upon the difficulties of, the/investi-f • gation, especially that of obtaining identical standards'of comparison and allowing for the - different habits' of life in the two countries.' 1 r He illustrates the point by" citing >the ''"in--. terestiiig result that- an English workman migrating'' to : Gel-many,' and maintaining, so •• far as'possible, his'own standard of.-living,: would hrid tho cost of rent, food, and, fuelraised by about one-fifth; while the German ' workman who migrated-to England,- but -re-," tamed bis own habits of living,', would fiiwl his expenditure on the same items reduced j by. less than one-half that 'amount.? 1 Mr. ■ t A. W; Fox, who is responsible for the! boiiy, 1 of the report, explains that-- this'apparent- : ■ ambiguity is itfainly due to the fact tnat the German workman takes much more than, the • • English workman of certain food' contmodi- >■-. ties, chiefly potatoes and .milk; which are i-.: cheaper in Gorman than -in English towns, •, There aro other marked differences. .'. Housing and Rents. .. V V' 1 , •• "The prevalent type of v ing (says Mr; Fox), in England and Wales, - - ; and to a lesser degree in- Ireland,-is a selfcontained two-storeyed dwelling, possessing generally four or five rooms and a separata > scullery; in Germany the predominant type . is a flat of two or three rooms, with appurten- . ances, in a large The Ger- • man housing system thus approximates more ■ closely to the Scottosh -type—blocks of flats of two', three, or four storeys—than to tho English. ' English, but net' Scotch, rents of working-class dwellings, usually include local taxation, which is based on the rentable* va}ue> of the dwelling; in Germany. local taxationis levied on an entirely different, basis,-and: is not included in rent. ' In regard: to food, tho British workman's meat consists mainly' of beef and mutton, whilst pork (even in- - eluding bacon) is relatively small in ■ amount • tho German workman, on the other hand, eats chiefly pork (including sausage) and beef, and only, a o vory,,little•. /.mutton." The pure l . claiSeS'bf'! I ''" the United, Kingdom' is replaced'in Germany;----rye liibaS, pV'more comnJonly-' " by some mixture of rye and wheat'."

' , Despite these'difficulties of comparison, -the results obtained arc rightly claimed to be of great interest-and'value; : Tlib first'subject" dealt with is that of housing and rents, and' it is shown that there is'little, if any,'difference between the' general level of rents in Germany and England, though rents in England'include a considerable element of local taxation, while rents in Germany do'not. -The 1 net rents in Germany are as 123 to 100 compared with the net rents in England. ■

.Prices. >.• » Dealing next with prices, the general lovel is shown to bo distinctly higher'in Germany' than in the United/Kingdom, the following table shows for Octobcr, 1905, tho ratio of mean predominant price in Germany,' the English prices being taken as 100' i Sugar, white granulated .... 119 Butter ... '.„ ,„. 105Potatoes ... . ... : &8' . Flour, w'heaten. „ ..,140 ' Milk '■ ... ... 75 " Beef .„ ... _ 12*2 Muttou ... ;.. ... 137 Pork ■ ... ... , 1..- -.i 123:-: Bacon V.." ... 123 Coal - -• 7. .-..V;. ■: ... 124 . -v Paraffin oil : - .v. : 135 On the .basis of the brdiiiary 'English'staii.> ' dardof consumption, the; expenditure'of the .■' workman on'food and'fuel in Germany is to his expenditure in. England as 118 'to 1 100.' ; An examination and comparison of many ■ workmen's budgets in the two countries' ( shows that the percentage of tho family income spent on food, excluding ljeer, is ' slightly higher in England than in Ger- ■ many, though it is thought that the differ* once may be more than -'accounted for bj. tho smaller household of the latter country. A table shows that in. 1905'13,752 horses were slaughtered in Berlin . alone for' the consumption of horse-flesh,' while'in towns where returns are made,, the. consumption per head of population per.annum varies from: lib. in Dresden to 61b. in■ Bremen.. ; ,v : "v i, The cheapness of horseflesh is, says . the report, doubtless of importance in promoting;;. the sale, but there is evidence .also that in some cases tho meat is eaten'because of l real taste for it. It must be ~recollecteii; that there have been changes in prices' am wages sinco October, 1905. The,'rise in tin price of rye broad in Germany j for instance, averages 23 per cent, in that period: Pork, on the "other hand, shows an-average fall . of 15''per cent. : ; Wages. The general average of wages suggests , a risedf something over 8 per cent, in'ihe engineering' 'trades,,. while, if. the building,' printing,. textile, and ,' other ; . trades bo. in- , cludedj an estimate of a rise of B'or.9"per cent, in the general level of weekly wagC3 and earnings, between October, 1905, and March, 1908, may bo regarded as approximately accurate. . ' ' Including rent, .with tho expenditure on ; food aiid fuel noted', above, it is estimated that the workman in Gentian ;; i\».. • • of local taxation, has to spend on theso • necossaries 119 to the English workman's expenditure of 100. The .. weekly money wages of tho working classes'-in German towns, compared with the wages,of the. same classes in England, aro as 83 to I CO, whilst tlw working hours aro as 111. to 100. Consequently tho hourly rates of monoy wages for the working classos in German towns, compared with those of tho same classes in England, aro a 5.75 to 100, or three-quarters oftho English rate. • Thus, on tho basis stated,' "the German rate of money wages per hour is about threequarters of tho English rate, arid tho cost of rent, food, and fuel nearly• one-fifth greater than in England." ,