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Canada, or 131 shillings in New Zealand; or to state it differently, he would need to spend 15 per cent. more in France and 4 per cent. more in Pennsylvania than in England. It is assumed that a family spends in textile materials for clothing and household use, weekly (on the average), as much money as would purchase five yards of flannel and forty yards of calico. This amount stated in pence is carried out in the column headed "weekly expenditure."

It is a fact of the greatest interest and importance that although there is considerable variety among the prices current in different places, the cheapest place on the world's surface for the purchase of these fabrics, and presumably of fabrics generally, is England. It must, however, be remembered that there are differences as between one shop and another in the same country, and even in the same town, and the matching and valuing a pattern are operations in which there is room for inaccuracy, and therefore too much importance must not be attached to the foregoing table taken by itself, but when taken in conjunction with those which follow the general results may be relied on with safety.

The following extract from a communication from the experienced gentleman, who furnishes the information from Valparaiso, should be considered with regard to the prices from Chili :

I think the prices I have named are pretty accurate for the date you ask-viz, about the 15th February, but at the same time I must tell you that, owing to our fluctuating exchange, I doubt whether the data I send will be of any great use to you in your economical papers. For example, the English enginedrivers got their $125 a month when exchange was 48d; and they get no more now, although at this moment exchange has fallen to the unprecedented and alarming rate of 214d. The same remark applies to the price of gas.

The metal currency of this country is gold and silver-that is to say the double standard, and until the fall of silver took place in 1876 our exchange kept steady between 46d and 48d. When silver fel', however, our exchange followed suit, and rose and fell with silver until 1879, when the Government issued a forced paper currency to carry on the war with Peru. Since then we have had great fluctuations. For example, in April last year, exchange was 27d, and fell in August to 221 It rose again last December to 27d, but has now gone back to 214d, so that it is very difficult to make a comparison of the cost of articles here as compared with the cost in England. shopkeeper had stock now which he had bought

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wholesale when exchange was 27d he would probably sell it at a price which would leave him a positive loss if he had to replace it at 21d exchange, but he often sells with the idea that exchange will improve, and that he will then lay in fresh stocks.

In brief, the wholesale price of articles that come from abroad and articles that can be exported rise and fall in price according to the exchange. Articles that are made in the country for home use and wages have also been influenced to some extert, by the depreciation in exchange, but they have not yet risen in proportion with foreign manufactures, or native produce suitable for exportation. At present we are in a most uncertain state, as in two years' time our exchange might be at par (which at the present price of silver would be about 34d), or it might fall to 17d, or even lower. Nobody can say.

The Government could easily return to specie pay. ments, as the fixed paper currency only amounts to some £3,000,000, which they could raise in London at five per cent., their five per cent. bonds being at a premium, but the farmers and miners are opposed to raising exchange, as it would bring down in Chilian currency the price of their products. What has complicated matters is the fall during the last four years in copper and wheat, the former having gone down from £70 to £40 a ton, and the latter from about 45s to 32s a quarter.

The Government of the country is more than solvent, as the foreign debt only amounts to some £6,500,000, and the State railways alone give a net profit more than sufficient to pay the interest on that sum, to say nothing of the export duty on nitrate, which gives £1,000,000 a year, and which they take good care to recover in silver or its equivalent, the same as with the duties on imported goods. I should mention that the Government are rapidly paying off their foreign debt, so that in thirteen years from now they will only be owing some £600,000 if they keep on at the same rate as now. The internal debt, outside of the forced paper currency, is very small, and only requires some 500,000 dollars a year for interest.

The foregoing explanations may perhaps be superAuous for your requirements, but I did not like sending you the data you asked without them, as it is just possible your economical papers may be criticised hereafter by some one who knew Chili twelve years ago, and is unaware of the change that has taken place since then.

NOTE.-On the 15th February the exchange on London was 25d, so that for calculation you may reckon that the Chilian paper dollar was then worth just half of the gold dollar of the United States, a draft for 100 dollars gold on New York being worth 200 dollars Chilian currency. [All the prices for Chili have been calculated on the foregoing basis.]

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Indian corn bread consumed by the working class, 1d. per lb; wheat bread for general consumption, 2d; finest quality, chiefly for the English and foreigners, 2}d. Black bread, 1d.

Corn bread generally used, white bread, 14d.
Rye bread, '6d per lb.

Black bread, 6d per lb.
Probably not quite white.

Bread is sold in Chili in small cakes at one cent each, or in loaves at five cents. The price never alters, but the size diminishes or increases according to the price of flour.

h. Price varies from 1s 2d in autumn, to 4s 9d in spring.

i. Sweet potatoes, 2s per 100lbs; yams, 2s 6d per 100lbs. Prices variable; occasionally twice as high.

j. Potatoes, usually £3 to £4, per ton, according to crop and time of year.

k. As the price appeared high a second enquiry was made and the reply received was-"No mistake; butcher's meat dear."

1. Corn or grain fed mutton, 5d; first quality of ordinary 34d; second quality, 24d.

m. One shilling to 1s 6d for the whole leg. n. Veal, 74d.

o. The price ranges from 1s per dozen to 2s.

From the foregoing table it will be observed that a very wide range exists in the prices of the staple articles of food. Whilst it is needful to expend 100 shillings in order to procure a definite quantity in England, not more than fifty-five shillings are needed to make similar purchases in Servia, which appears to be the cheapest market for them in the whole series. Italy, Holland, and Canada stand almost on a par with England, but in the United States from 127 to 129 shillings must be expended to purchase the same commodities. The somewhat adverse position which this country occupies when compared with some countries on the Continent of Europe arises from the dearness of butcher's meat, which, notwithstanding the reduction in the price of cattle and the large supply of imported meat, stiil commands an exorbitant price. It is a noteworthy circumstance that in no country is bread so cheap as in England, for the slightly lower price reported from Servia, is supposed to refer to bread of somewhat inferior quality. When it is remembered that a very large

proportion of the bread consumed in this country is made from corn which was grown in Hungary, Russia, India, or on the North American Continent, it is highly satisfactory to find that the consumer in this country pays less for the "staff of life" than the inhabitants of any other land. It is almost startling to observe that the price of bread in Canada and the United States is almost double that in this country, and yet a large proportion of the cereals from which this cheap bread is made, comes from those countries. The higher wages which journeymen bakers can obtain in a newly settled country, and the wider margin of profits which the distributors secure as compared with bakers in this country, account for this paradoxical circumstance.

The succeeding table relates to non-intoxicating beverages and to sugar. The "weekly consump tion" was obtained by adding together the price of 12 quarts of milk, half-a-pound of tea, one pound of coffee, four pounds of loaf sugar, and four pounds of soft sugar:—

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d. Soft coal for burning bricks, 18s 9d ton. per

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lake steamers 24s and two suits of clothes per annum.

q. Ordinary labourers receive 1s 8d per day from 6 a.m. to

6 p.m.

r. For 12 hours labour or more.

s. Field hands, men 10d, women 64 per day.

t. In Valparaiso a labouring man with no knowledge of a trade gets 90 cents a day for 10 hours' clear work, in the country from 60 to 80 cents. Miners earn two dollars a day. Engine-drivers earn 100 dollars to 125 dollars a month. The express trains between Valparaiso and Santiago are all driven by English drivers, who get 125 dollars a month.

u. The wages are paid for about six hours' work per day. and for this service they receive 3; 4d per week.

v. In the standard list the town of Stockport is omitted. The return with regard to Macclesfield is taken instead, and the rate for carpenters and joiners is for sumn e 743 and winter 7 d.

a. The price given is for Montreal; gas is dearer in all other Canadian cities.

The presen' price of the rouble is 23 11-131.

Even in our own country we know the difference between the well-piled grates of Lancashire and Yorkshire and the small fires of Middlesex and Hants. Another reason for the varying consumption of coals arises from the circumstance that the lower the latitude the less fuel is needed for the purposes of warmth; and when the fires are maintained solely for the cook and laundress the consumption of fuel is extremely small. For the purpose of comparison it is needful to make some allowance for the less amount of fuel used in hot countries. It is not possible to apportion the expense accurately, but by means of the following scale an attempt is made to remove the more prominent irregularities. It is assumed that the typical Cheshire family will use 320lb of coal per week, that another family of equal means and similar size living in a latitude of 40 degrees will make use of one half the quantity; and for a third family dwelling within the tropics the amount used will be reduced to one-fourth the normal quantity, and when wood is employed the weight taken will be equal to its equivalent in coal. Each family is supposed to burn 500 feet of gas. Where gas is not supplied the figure for "weekly expenses is obtained by adopting in the "gas" column a figure which is the average of the entire series. A note of interrogation placed after a figure denotes that the correspondent is not responsible for its accuracy. In certain cases the price has not been furnished, and has been supplied from some other source of information. To ascertain the wages paid to domestic servants, the rate of remuneration to an efficient housemaid was selected. To arrrive

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at the weekly expenditure a sum equal to the wages of one such domestic has been included. The wages of a railway porter, or person in a similar position, have been included in most cases-and in some instances the wages paid to a carpenter for an hour's work are supplied. It did not occur to the writer to collect this last-named information until many of the sets of questions had been sent out. Although the information is not required for the purposes of this inquiry, it is by no means without interest. This becomes apparent when it is remembered that in order to enable an artisan to form a judgment as to the desirability of any country for a residence it is needful to deduct his necessary expenditure from his probable income.

NOTES ON DENMARK.

Tea is very poor; that at 2s 6d or even 33 per lb. is not cqual in quality to what is sold in England for

28. Very little is drunk by the common people, perhaps one-tenth of the amount of coffee.

A carpenter will obtain about 25 per cent more wages in Copenhagen than in Veile for performing the same amount of work. Most of the work, however, is done by the piece.

The paper money is at par. A krone is worth about ten per cent more than a shilling, and a Danish pound is about ten per cent heavier than an English pound. Therefore 1kr per Danish Ib-1s per English lb.

NOTES ON SWITZERLAND.

Railway servants receive on the average 23 5d per day. The fixed salaries range from £44 to £48, which latter figure is the average, for there are also salaries of £60 and £61. The railway servants have eighteen days of holidays per annum, but they receive no pay when thus absent. A deduction from their wages amounting to 3s 3d is made monthly in order to form a fund, out of which pensions are provided, payments to widows, and on account of sickness, &c., are made. When absent from illness a servant receives one-fourth of his wages. Medical attendance, medicine, &c., are provided free of charge.

Prices: Cabbages, 14d each; honey, 1s per Ib butter, 1s 2d; medium cheese, 61d; bay, 4s 5d per cwt; straw, 4s per cwt.

NOTES ON ALGERIA.

Tea is very little used by the working people, who prefer coffee. For cooking purposes charcoal is used. It costs 3s 74d per cwt.

NOTES ON ANTIGUA.

Prices: Kerosine, i.e., petroleum, 1s 3d per gal. for "best fireproof oil;" plantains, 2 for 1d.

NOTES ON SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

It is not usual to keep other than a general servant. Wages are higher in the town than in the country except far north, eg, two girls just employed will receive £45 each the first year and £50 afterwards, their fare (£5 or £6) being paid in addition if they remain for a year. Servants are generally engaged by the week, as they like change.

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