32

BERLIN.

room)  with  kitchen,  the  rents  of  which  range  from  25s.  to  29s.  per  month
where  both  rooms  are  small,  from  29-s.  to  33s.  where  one  room  is  large  and  the
other  small,  and  from  35s.  to  39s.  where  both  rooms  are  large.  There  are  also
six  single-room  dwellings  let  at  12s.  per  month  and  eight  dwellings  of  three
rooms  and  kitchen  let  at  from  41s.  to  45s.  per  month.  It  is  claimed  that  the
rents  are  20  per  cent,  below  those  of  similar  dwellings  in  the  immediate  locality.
Baths  exist  for  the  common  use  of  the  tenants  free  of  charge  ;  there  is  a
kindergarten  in  which  children  between  the  ages  of  three  and  six  years  are
received  from  9  a.m.  to  6  p.m.,  and  there  are  two  playgrounds  for  the  use  of
boys  and  girls.  The  buildings  do  not  compare  either  in  external  appearance
or  in  internal  comfort  with  the  houses  of  the  Savings  and  Building  Society,
but  they  are  intended  for  a  different  class  of  tenants  and  the  rents  charged
are  proportionately  lower.
The  Patriotic  (  Vaterländischer)  Building  Society  has  built  two  blocks  of
300  dwellings,  but  its  work  follows  a  political  and  confessional  direction,  and  the
tenants  are  not  drawn  from  the  working-class  indiscriminately.
Among  other  societies  of  the  kind  are  the  Berlin  Co-operative  Building
Society,  whose  operations  are  confined  to  the  suburbs.  Formerly  it  built  small
houses  and  sold  them  to  the  tenants  ;  now  small  houses  are  no  longer  profitable,
owing  to  the  high  price  of  land,  and  large  buildings,  of  which  it  remains  the
owner,  have  now  to  be  erected.  The  Social  Democrats  have  also  established  a
building  society,  bearing  the  name  “  Paradise,”  but  its  operations  are  limited.
Another  effort  on  the  same  lines  is  that  of  the  "  Great  Berlin  ”  Tramway
Company  Employees’  Building  Society,  with  a  membership  of  1,600  out  of  a
total  staff  of  8,000.  It  is  the  object  of  the  society  to  provide  for  its  members,
by  purchase,  lease,  or  erection,  cheap  and  healthy  dwellings  in  which  the  tenants
shall  enjoy  a  certain  fixity  of  tenure.  In  order  to  acquire  membership  it  is
necessary  to  take  a  share  of  the  value  of  £15,  upon  which  interest  of  4  per  cent,
is  paid  ;  ten  such  shares  can  be  taken  if  desired,  and  payment  may  be  in  instalments. ­
  Most  of  the  capital  is  provided  by  the  Tramway  Company  at  3  per  cent,
interest.  The  usual  Berlin  “  barrack  ”  style  of  building  has  been  chosen,  five
stories  being  usual,  built  round  a  rectangular  courtyard,  the  appearance
of  which  is  brightened  by  shrubs  and  grass  plots.  At  the  end  of  1905  five
blocks  had  been  built,  containing  286  dwellings,  two  being  of  three  rooms
and  kitchen,  120  of  two  rooms  and  kitchen,  and  164  of  one  room  and
kitchen,  each  with  cellar  and  attic  ;  no  fewer  than  171  dwellings  had
bathrooms  adjacent  to  the  kitchens.  It  is  intended  in  course  of  time  to  build
a  house  at  every  one  of  the  Company’s  20  depots.
Few  employers  have  found  it  necessary  to  provide  dwellings  for  their
workpeople,  and  such  enterprise  is  only  found  in  several  of  the  outside
suburbs  where  large  works  have  been  established  out  of  reach  of  suitable
housing  accommodation.  Finally  must  be  noticed  the  excellent  provision  made
for  their  comrades  on  the  road  by  the  Social  Democratic  Trades  Federation
and  the  Hirsch  Duncker  Central  Trade  Union,  both  of  which  have  commodious
lodging  houses  in  which  a  bed  with  coffee  in  the  morning  can  be  obtained  for
5d.  or  Qd.  The  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant  Church  organisations  also
make  provision  for  travelling  workpeople  in  “  homes  ”  and  “  hospices  ”
conducted  on  a  religious  basis.  *
Retail  Prices.
Groceries  and  other  Commodities.
Berlin  is  provided  with  an  excellent  system  of  public  market  halls,
conveniently  distributed  throughout  the  city.  They  are  14  in  number  and
were  built  during  the  past  20  years  at  a  cost  of  about  £1,400  000  of  which
exactly  halt  represents  the  cost  of  the  sites  alone.  How  important  a  part  the
market  halls  ¡day  in  the  commissariat  arrangements  of  the  community  may  lie
judged  from  the  fact  that  the  goods  received  m  the  two  central  markets  bv  rail
amounted  in  the  year  1905-6  to  nearly  100,000  tons,  to  which  came  large
supplies  by  water.  A  considerable  trade  in  meat  is  done  in  the  public  markets