284
KÖNIGSBERG.
Groceries and other Commodities.
The subjoined table summarises the data supplied in response to personal
inquiries made among shop-keepers in different parts of Königsberg dealing in
groceries, dairy produce and coal, as to the predominant retail prices of those
articles at October, 1905, and November, 1906.
Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in October, 1905,
and November, 1906.
Predominant Price.
Commodity.
Coffee
Sugar, White Granulated
Bacon :—
Fat
Streaky ...
Eggs
Cheese, Tilsit
Butter
Margarine ...
Potatoes
Flour :—
Wheat
Rye
Bread, Rye ...
Milk ...
Coal ... ...
Paraffin Oil ...
per lb.
per Is.
per lb.
per 7 lb.
per 4 lb.
per quart
per cwt.
per gallon
October, 1905.
November, 1906.
lid.
2id.
8#
lid.
Is. Id. to Is. 2\d.
7|d.
2W., 3d.
11 \d.
9\d.
4%d.
2\d.
Is. Id.
lid.
lid.
2\d.
8gd.
’. to 1
12*
8|d.
Is. Ifd. to Is. 2fd.
7fd.
2#, 3d.
9fd. to lid.
11 Id.
9f d.
5 fd.
2 fd.
Is. 4d.
lid.
A few remarks are appended by way of comment on the prices of some
of the above articles. The coffee most generally bought by working-class
families is described as a “ mixture,” and invariably costs 1 mark per German,
or lid. per English lb. Occasionally the “mixture” is described as
“ Java,” or “ Campinas ” (Brazilian) coffee. The compound from which the
domestic coffee is brewed, however, contains a considerable proportion of coffee
substitutes such as roasted malt at 2\d. per lb. The sugar most frequently
bought by working-class families is a fine white granulated variety described as
Gemahlene Baffinade, and costs a little over 2\d. per lb. The consumption
of this sugar is about nine times as great as that of all the other varieties
together. What has been said in the reports on other towns with regard to
bacon applies also to Königsberg. There are two varieties ; one consists of
solid fat cut from the back, and the other is “ streaky” and cut from the belly of
the pig. The “ streaky ” bacon costs 11 d. while the fat is sold for 8fd. per lb.
Notwithstanding the proximity of the Russian frontier the local shopkeepers are
unanimous in stating that only native eggs are consumed in Königsberg. The
popular cheese is Tilsit, at 8\d. per lb.
The bread most generally eaten is made entirely of rye, and is scarcely as
dark in colour as any of the brown breads sold by bakers in England. The
quantity almost invariably purchased at a time by the workman’s wife is the
loaf costing 50 pfennige, or 6<A The next size is the loaf at 30 pfennige, or
about 3\d. While the prices of these loaves never vary, the weight is constantly
changing, nor is it the same in any two bakeries. In order to be able to trace the
movement in the price of bread, the municipal statistical office has for some
years pursued the plan of causing a number of loaves and rolls to be bought
every week at various shops in different parts of the town. The goods are then
brought to the statistical office and weighed separately so that the average
weight may be arrived at. To obviate errors arising from the difference in
weight between fresh bread and stale, all the goods bought must be 24 hours
old. It may be added that the matter is so arranged that the baker does not
know when the test loaves are being bought. At October, 1905, on the average
of 4 weekly weighings of 11 loaves each, the 50 pfennige loaf was found to
