AVERAGES OF PRICES. 185 



the relative values of the raw material, than entries of the 

 purchase and sale of the raw material itself. To this general 

 uniformity we must make one exception : while most raw 

 materials of foreign origin are cheaper in London than else- 

 where, manufactured articles are almost always dearer, because 

 labour was much more highly paid in the metropolis and its 

 immediate neighbourhood. 



IV. It has been already stated that the highest price of some 

 kinds of labour has been given, instead of an average. The 

 same rule has been adopted in estimating the value of certain 

 kinds of produce, as hides, cheese, butter, eggs, wax, candles, 

 and cider. These articles represent considerable value in 

 small compass, and are kinds of produce almost universally 

 distributed. Hence it seems that the only method of obtaining 

 a true insight into their economical importance is that which 

 estimates the highest rate at which they were sold. 



V. In drawing the averages, I have reduced the price of 

 grain to eighths of a penny, but have not thought such accuracy 

 necessary in dealing with other articles, unless the unit taken 

 (as, for instance, in reckoning poultry by the head) is generally 

 valued in pence. And in calculating all averages, if a fraction 

 remain over the lowest quantity retained in the product, it 

 has been added to the product if it be in excess of half the 

 divisor, omitted if it be less than half. Even in calculations 

 requiring extreme nicety, such interpolations and omissions 

 rectify each other. Similarly in reductions to grains of silver, 

 if the decimal exceed half of the whole number, a unit is added, 

 if it fall below it, the decimal is ignored. 



