BOCHUM. 
91 
Swiss cheese cost 11 d. or Is. The price of fresh “country” butter was from 
Is. Id. to Is. 2d. per lb., but a large amount of margarine was sold at from 6W. 
to 8jd. The bread trade was divided amongst the 170 private bakers and the 
co-operative societies. The Guild of Bakers regulates the price of bread sold by 
its members, altering the weight when there is any material fluctuation in the 
price of flour. Grey bread, made one-third of wheat and two-thirds of rye, is 
most commonly eaten by the working classes, and a 4-lb. loaf cost 5\d. In 
practice this bread is usually sold in Bochum in loaves of about 6^ to 8 lb. 
English weight, though smaller sizes are also baked. All wheat bread cost 
If A per lb., and was sold in loaves at 6d. and Is. Genuine “ black ” rye bread 
cost about Id. per lb. in the loaf, though in this bread there is considerable 
variety both in weight and price. It is commonly sold in slices, machine cut, 
and in that form cost in October, 1905, 1Jd. per lb. Milk cost 2fd. per quart, 
and potatoes 3d. per 7 lb. Coal was sold by retail traders at 8^d. per cwt., but 
the miners are supplied on special terms at the pits ; coke cost lid. per cwt. 
American petroleum is the illuminant chiefly used, and the price was 10(7. per 
gallon. 
Bochum is without public market halls, but markets for vegetables and 
fruit are held in the open in several parts of the town, either on Monday 
and Wednesday, Tuesday and Friday, or Saturday, according to locality. 
Much latitude is also allowed by the authorities to the small stall-holders who 
frequent odd corners and vacant spaces in quest of a livelihood. 
The following Table summarises prices as above stated for October, 1905, 
and gives for comparison the prices at the time of the investigator’s visit in 
September, 1906. The prices of the majority of the commodities show a 
slight rise :— 
Predominant Prices paid by the Working Classes in October 1905, and 
September, 1906. 
Commodity. 
Coffee 
Sugar :— 
Loaf 
White Granulated 
Bacon :— 
Fat 
Streaky... 
Eggs 
Cheese :— 
.Dutch 
Limburg 
Swiss 
Butter 
Margarine 
Potatoes 
Flour (Household) 
Bread :— 
White (Wheaten) 
Grey 
Milk 
Coal 
Coke 
Paraffin Oil 
per lb. 
per Is. 
per lb. 
per 7 lb. 
per 4 lb. 
per quart 
per cwt. 
» 
per gallon 
Predominant Price. 
October, 1905. 
lid. 
2\d. 
2d. to 2\d. 
8§d. 
9# 
14 to 17. 
8# 
to 9M. 
5\d. to 6^d. 
lid. to Is. 
Is. Id. to Is. 2d. 
GW. to 8fd. 
3d. 
10%d- 
6^d. to 7d. 
5 W. 
2|d. 
8W. 
lid. 
lOd. 
September, 1906. 
lid. to Is. Id. 
2\d. 
2\d. to 2\d. 
8§d. to 9§d 
9fd. to lid. 
11 to 12& 
9# 
5\d. to GW- 
lid. to Is. Id. 
Is. 2\d. 
l%d. to 8fd, 
2\d. 
10|d. to 11W- 
GW- to Id. 
" 54d. 
2# : 
8W. 
lid. 
• lOd. 
Meat. 
The working classes of Bochum, or at least the more highly paid of them, 
are regarded by the butchers as amongst their best ■ customers. • Of butchers’ 
shops there are 120 in the town, representing 1 per 1,000 of the population, both 
urban and suburban. For the past few years no statistics have been prepared 
by the municipal authorities on the local meat consumption, but the latest 
estimate was from 123*2 to 127*6 lb. per head. It is not unlikely,»however, 
that the recent incorporation of four outlying parishes will have reduced the 
average. Such a consumption, however, would appear to be far in excess of that 
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