THE "PEOPLE" in BERLIN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1518, 6 January 1887, Page 3

THE "PEOPLE" in BERLIN.

(London Figaro.) , It, appears . f rom a recent return issued by the Berlin authorities that out of a population of 1,200,000, more than. 150,000 are receiving public charity. Jn 1870, 10 per cent of the population lived in cellars and 25 per cent in crowded apartments. Since then the population of Berlin has been nearly doubled, aud rents have increased greatiy, so that the poor are compelled to pay nearly half their earnings for decent shelter. In summer, great numbers are forced to sleep out of doors. The, danger of going through the streets unarmed, which, existed after the FrancoGerman war, has subsided with severe treatment of the rowdy element, but petty riots and conflicts with the, police, are still frequent. I£ore than half the population of Berlin are working people, and the city has become, the centre of the socialistic movement. Many of the working men here openly favour community. of wires. Divorces have increased to fifteen per cent of the number of marriages solemnised. The attendance at the churches has decreased to two per cent of the. adult population, and out of 48,000 fuuerals last year, nearly 30,000 were per- . formed without any religious ceremony whatever. Women flock by thousands to the city to obtain emplyment, and failing to get what they want, large numbers fall and are lost. This evil has become so great that strenuous efforts are being made to avert, it. The age of consent has t already been raised as it has been m England. Lodging-houses and benevolent institutions have been . established to aid working women, and ' a % society of ladies has been ' formed for the purpose of protecting, sustaining, and counselling women up 'the .age of thirty-five. But much remains to be done in that line.-;/' . /.