Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

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DANTZIG. 16Õ . too the competition of the railway is being felt more and more every year. Of a total of £746,000 worth of timber brought to Dantzig by river and rail in 1905 more than half was exported to the United Kingdom. The staple manufactures of Dantzig are most concerned with the prepara tion of the products of forestry and agriculture, and are represented by wood-sawing mills, corn-grinding mills, oil mills, sugar refineries, breweries and distilleries. But there are also important ship-building yards (including an Imperial shipyard) employing nearly 6,000 men, together with the machine shops and repairing works necessary for these industries. Lately a rail way-waggon works employing about 400 men, a rolling mill, and a screw, nut and rivet factory have been established. The rolling mill and the factory employ between them about 1,000 men. With its activities as a centre of trade and industry, Dantzig combines those of an important military station (it has a garrison of about 10,000 men), and in this respect it resembles Königsberg. While, however, the latter town is still completely encircled by a ring of moated fortifications, which impede its natural expansion to meet the needs of a growing population, Dantzig has, within the last 12 years, been partially relieved of this artificial restriction through the purchase by the Municipality from the military authorities of a portion of the land on the northern and western periphery previously occupied by the ramparts. All that is modern in Dantzig is therefore to be found in that part of the town. With the ramparts and moats remaining intact on the south and east, and with the Vistula on the north, the town is still surrounded by water to the extent of about three-fourths of its circumference. The centre of the town is traversed from south-east to north-west by two arms of the Mottlau, which form an island about half a mile in length and 250 yards wide at the centre, the shores of which are lined with high-gabled granaries. This part of Dantzig, known as the Warehouse Island (Speicherinset), is the centre of the commercial—as distinct from the industrial—activity of the town and its rough cobble-paved streets, rendered noisy by the traffic of heavy wagons and vans, have a character distinct from that of the streets of what may be called the mainland, that is to say, of the Old Town or City proper, bordering on the western side of the left arm of the Mottlau, and of the somewhat more modern residential district within the fortification on the south-east of the right arm of that river. The river-front on the City side contrasts with that of the opposite Speicherinsel in having no "warehouses but many small shops especially of the marine store kind. A feature of this part of Dantzig is that it squays are used as a market place for fish, fruit and vegetables, in which the stalls are represented by moored river craft. From the quays a number of parallel streets run inland towards the north-west, and these with their cross streets form the City of Dantzig of mediæval times. The limits of the ancient town are still indicated on the north and south by the names of the streets, which have superseded the ancient moats, viz., the Altstädtischer Graben and the Vorstädtischer Graben respectively. The stream of vehicular traffic across the Old Town from the western side to the river front is to a certain extent impeded by ancient gateways at the waterside and of several of the streets. In these streets, moreover, the space available for vehicles is greatly reduced by the balustraded stone terraces (JSßWZäog) which are peculiar to old Dantzig, and which project far into the cobbled madway from the doors of the old houses on either side. The houses themselves, formerly occupied by the families of wealthy merchants, have in the course of time been convened into tenement houses, a purpose for which the narrow frontage and relatively great depth of their sides renders them peculiarly unsuitable, especially when, as frequently happens, a number of the front rooms are let as offices. The largest industrial establishments of Dantzig, including the great Govern ment and private shipbuilding yards, are situated outside the line of the demolished fortifications on the northern side of the town close to the river Vistula, and of the industrial undertakings inside the existing circumvallation the most important belong either to the Stete or the Municipality, e.g the Royal Small Arms Factory and Ordnance Works on the south-east, and the

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