KÖNIGSBERG.

287

Part  of  the  meat  consumed  by  the  less  prosperous  working-class  families
is  of  distinctly  inferior  quality,  inasmuch  as  it  consists  of  parts  of  the
carcases  of  animals  which  have  been  found  by  the  public  meat  inspectors
to  be  suffering  from  disease.  One  hundred  and  thirty  tons  of  such
meat  were  sold  at  the  Freibank  or  municipal  meat-stall  in  Königsberg  in
the  year  ended  March  31st,  190b.  Of  this  quantity  some  15  tons  had
to  be  boiled  before  being  offered  for  sale,  as  a  precaution  against  injury  to
health.  The  lowness  of  the  price  of  this  meat  as  compared  with  that  charged
for  sound  meat  by  private  tradesmen  proves  a  great  attraction  to  the  poorer
classes,  as  is  evident  from  the  rapidity  with  which  each  fresh  supply  offered  at
the  Freibank  is  cleared  out.

Prices  of  Inferior  Meat  at  Municipal  Meat-stall  (Freibank)  in  Königsberg,
1905-6.

Raw.

Boiled.

Beef
Pork
Veal
Mutton

Por  lb.
4\d.  to  6rf.
3\d.  to  4\d.
3|d.  to  5\d.

Per  lb.
3Id.  to  4jd.
3|d.  to  5d.
3\d.  to  3|d.

Butchers  are  not  allowed  to  purchase  meat  at  the  municipal  meat-stall,  and
only  a  strictly  limited  quantity  may  be  bought  by  any  one  person  on  one  and
the"same  day,  the  object  being  to  prevent  people  purchasing  otherwise  than  for
their  own  consumption  or  that  of  their  family.
The  general  level  of  prices  in  Königsberg  is  about  the  same  as  in  Berlin,
but  the  variation  in  respect  of  the  different  kinds  of  commodities  is  considerable. ­
  Thus,  taking  prices  at  Berlin  as  100,  the  index  numbers  for  Königsberg
are  113  for  meat  and  97  for  other  food,  the  figure  for  these  two  groups
combined  being  100  ;  the  price  of  coal  is  represented  by  108,  while  for  all
commodities  the  figure  is  101.  The  index  number  for  rent  and  prices
combined  is  93.