Vil 
towns, with the result that the differences between the cost of living (so far as 
it relates to expenditure on rent, food, and fuel) in one or another of the 
German towns investigated are not very much larger than those which exist 
between the towns of the United Kingdom. The general level of prices is, 
however, distinctly higher in Germany than in the United Kingdom, and in 
this connexion an important instance of the effects of differences in national 
habits may be noticed. The English workman going to Germany and 
maintaining his accustomed standard of living would find his expenditure on 
food and fuel substantially increased ; but in spite of the generally higher level 
of prices in Germany the German workman coming to England, and maintaining 
his own standard, would not find his expenditure reduced in a corresponding 
proportion. This is due mainly to the fact that the German workman takes 
much more than the English workman of certain food commodities, chiefly 
potatoes and milk, which are cheaper in German than in English towns. 
Finally, whilst nominal rents are as high in Germany as in England—and in 
fact higher, since they do not include local taxation, which the German workman 
must pay separately—and whilst the general level of food prices in the German 
towns is also higher than in England, wages in those trades for which a 
comparison has been made are substantially lower, even when longer hours 
are worked. 
I have, &c., 
ARTHUR WILSON FON.