280
KÖNIGSBERG.
a minimum rate of wages, increased by a percentage which varies between town
and town, according to the cost of living. Including this increase, the weekly
wages (on time work) in Königsberg are those shown in the Table.
Woodworking Trades. In the wood-pulp making trade, which is of
considerable local importance, the great bulk of the labour employed is
unskilled. The wages shown in the Table are those for October, 1905. A
year later they had improved, unskilled men earning 23s. in 70 hours, and*
skilled mechanics 28s. in 66 hours.
Tobacco Trades. The very small proportion of male labour (other than
foremen) employed in cigar and tobacco factories is unskilled.
Housing and Rents.
Mention has already been made at the commencement of this report of the
way in which Königsberg has been prevented by its fortifications from extending
its boundaries so as to provide living space for a constantly increasing population.
The disadvantages entailed upon the town through this cause have been
aggravated by the fact that, besides being what is technically known asa" first
class fortress,” Königsberg is also a great seaport, an important railway junction,
the seat of a Provincial and District Government, the headquarters of an army
corps and the seat of a University. Much space that would otherwise have
been available as building land has been absorbed by these various public
institutions. (The State Railway premises alone occupy an area of 101 acres
inside the walls.) This has resulted in an ever-increasing congestion, wdiich
gives the town an appearance of being overcrowded so far as its streets are
concerned. Housing conditions, on the other hand, instead of deteriorating,
have improved in recent years owing to the exigencies of the situation, which
had reached a climax at the end of 1895 (wdien there were only 68 unoccupied
dwellings in the whole town), having stimulated building enterprise. So great was
this stimulus that quite one-third of all the dwellings of present-day Königsberg
date from between 1895 and 1904. The increase in housing accommodation
has been effected quite as much by demolishing old houses and erecting on the
same site new ones with a larger number of rooms as by building on land which
had previously been unoccupied. Indeed the probability is that the greater part
of the increased accommodation lias been provided in the former way, if one may
judge by the constant recurrence of new houses wedged between old ones in most
parts of the town. The improvement in the supply of dwelling accommodation
in the period 1895-1900 was shown by the housing censuses of those years.
In 1895 it was found that 159,319 persons were housed in 84,832 rooms, or an
average of 1*9 persons per room ; in 1900 there were 100,263 rooms with a
total of 175,382 occupants or 1*7 persons per room. In 1895 5,264 persons were
housed in basement dwellings consisting of 1,898 rooms or 2*8 persons per room.
Five years later the number of basement dwellers had fallen to 4,609 persons,
in 1,864 rooms, or 2 5 persons per room. The additional rooms required for the
increasing population were provided in part by increasing the height of the houses.
Thus, while in 1895 14'5 per cent, of all habitable rooms in Königsberg were
situated on third, fourth or fifth stories, the proportion of rooms so situated was
found to have increased during the succeeding five years to 18*1 per cent, of the
total. The improvement in the supply of dwellings due to the increased activity
of builders is also reflected in the increase in the number of unoccupied tenements
from 68 in December, 1895, to 806 in April, 1900. Since October, 1901, an
enumeration of unoccupied dwellings has taken place every year and has shown
the following results :—
Number of unoccupied
dwellings.
October, 1901
1902
1,434
1,269
1,809
1,953
