310 
LEIPZIG. 
unoccupied dwellings in the town was less than the year before, viz., 4,719, or 
3’96 per cent, of all dwellings as against 4,884, or 4 20 per cent, in October, 
1904, the Statistical Office noted the decline with satisfaction as an indication 
of the efficacy of its warning. It is worthy of notice that 1,574, or over one- 
third of all the dwellings unoccupied in October, 1905, were four-roomed 
tenements, while 526 were three-roomed. The average yearly rent asked was 
£17 for the former and £12 for the latter, or, say, 6a. 6(7. and 4a. Id. per week 
respectively. These figures cannot be regarded as representing the average rents 
of working-class tenements, for, on the one hand they include a proportion of 
the newest and best dwellings, not intended for working-class occupation, and 
on the other they are based on the rents asked, which may be taken as being on 
the whole something higher than those ultimately obtained. 
While the municipality of Leipzig has so far seen no reason for taking any 
action with a view to increasing the supply of working-class dwellings, an 
important scheme has been carried on for some years by one of the many city 
endowments {Meyersehe Stiftung für Erbauung billiger Wohnungen), with the 
object of providing dwellings suitable to the needs of families with incomes of 
£45 to £80 per annum. Some 5,500 persons are now housed in dwellings 
erected by this endowment in the suburbs of Leipzig, and these dwellings are 
both cheaper and better than those supplied by private enterprise. The rents 
are fixed on the principle that, given two families with different incomes, but 
consisting of the same number of persons, both require the same amount of 
house room, and that the poorer of the two must be helped at the cost of the 
other, while the rent must in neither case exceed one-seventh of the family 
income. Hence, while the weekly rent of a flat in these tenement houses never 
exceeds 4s. 5d. for four rooms, nor 3s. Id. for three rooms, precisely similar 
flats are to be had in the same house for 3s. and 2s. 6(7. respectively, the only 
difference being that the dearer fiat is in each case on the first floor and the 
cheaper on the third. « The annual receipts from rents are sufficient to leave a 
surplus of 2£ to 3¿ per cent, for interest and sinking fund. 
House rents include no element of local rates, except the water-rate, the 
bulk of the municipal revenue being derived from a local income tax additional 
to the State income tax, and standing in a fixed ratio to the latter. All 
incomes exceeding £25 per annum are subject to the local income tax, which is 
paid twice a year and amounts in the first six months to 70 percent., and in 
the second six months to 65 per cent, of the State income tax. The annual 
amount payable in respect of local income tax in Leipzig on various rates of 
income up to £110 per annum is shown below :— 
Annual Income. 
Over £25 
» £30 
» £35 
IS 
» 270 
» £80 
„ £95 
to £30 
,, £35 
,, 240 
„ £47 10s. 
10s. to £55 
to £62 10s. 
10s. to £70 
to £80 
,, £95 
- „ £110 
Amount of 
Local Income Tax. 
2s. 8d. 
4s. 0d. 
5s. 5d. 
8s. Id. 
10s. 9d. 
13s. 6(7. 
17s. 6(7. 
21s. 7(7. 
28s. 4(7. 
39s. 2(7. 
Retail Prices. 
Leipzig has become one of the principal centres of the working-class 
co-operative movement in Germany. There are close upon one hundred 
shops in Leipzig owned by co-operative distributive societies composed mainly 
of workpeople. One of these, the Konsumverein Leipzig-Plag witz, owns 
73 shops, and had in 1906 upwards of 40,000 members, whose purchases in 
that year amounted to £765,000. Of the two other similar societies, one— 
the Konsumverein Leipzig-Mockau—with 4,600 members and 14 shops, sold 
£79,000, and the other—the Konsumverein Leipzig-Stötteritz—with 2,400