33 ° [December, 1902.] 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL 
Vol. VIII. No. 96. 
furniture makers were Chinese ; the wages of tailoresses 
improved. A dispute has arisen between the shipwrights and 
joiners in the shipbuilding trade which may lead to trouble. The 
shearers have abated their demand, and now claim that their 
wages should be increased from aos. per 100 to 22s. 6d. instead 
of 25s. as previously asked; the dispute is still unsettled, 
(Victoria). — -With the exception of Gippsland and the West, 
which are a little better off, the State is suffering severely from 
the drought, and emigrants without means are advised not logo 
there at present. The pay of railway employees, receiving ^150 
per year and over, has been reduced. Special Boards appointed 
under the Factories Acts, have fixed the lowest wages payable to 
persons manufacturing wicker goods at is. an hour ; to com- 
positors and stereotypers at is. o|d. to is. id. an hour, to 
persons engaged on linotype or monoline work at is. 6d. to is. 8d. 
an hour, and to lithographers and bookbinders at is. id. an 
hour ; to males above 16 years old making boots and shoes at 
6s. 8d. to 7s. 6d. per day of 8 hours, and to females with four 
years' experience at 20s. per week of 48 hours ; to male black- 
smiths in the bedstead trade at 42s. per week of 48 hours, and 
to female polishers of japanned work at 22s. 6d. per week of 45 
hours ; to wool scourers in the woollen trade at 30s. a week, and 
to female warpers (first year) 15s. a week ; and to persons 
making bottle or flue brushes at 48s. a week. ( South Australia). 
— The drought has been severe, and there is no demand what- 
ever for more labour ; but good rains have just fallen in the 
agricultural districts, which should improve matters. (Queens- 
land).— The long drought is causing great losses in Queensland, 
and there is no demand for more labour, except for a few farm 
labourers in the south, and for female servants in most parts. 
(Western Australia.) — There is a good demand for farm 
labourers and female servants, but the supply of mechanics and 
miners is sufficient. The dispute between the miners and mine- 
owners at Kalgoorlie has been settled by the Arbitration Court 
—rock drill men are to receive 13s. 4d. to 14s. 4d. per shift 
(8 hours), and miners 11s, 8d. (New Zealand.)— During the 
last few weeks work has been rather slack, as is usual during 
the winter season. For those emigrating now the prospects are 
good. In Taranaki the dairying industry is very prosperous, 
and dairy factories are increasing. Competent men have no 
difficulty in getting work on the land ; the building and other 
trades have also been doing well, and building plots are sought 
for, and sell at advanced prices. 
South Africa. — Permits to land are not required now in 
Cape Colony or Natal, but are still required by those proceeding 
to the Transvaal and Orange River Colony. There is no 
demand whatever anywhere for general labourers. Owing to 
the large numbers who have recently arrived, there is no special 
demand for mechanics anywhere ; but really skilled mechanics — 
especially those in the building trades — have a very fair chance 
of work if they can afford to keep themselves some little time 
while searching for it. They must remember that the cost of 
living is high in all parts, and in the Transvaal from two to three 
times as high as it is in England. A few experienced platelayers 
and carriage and wagon examiners are wanted for the Natal 
Railways ; application should be made to the Agent-General for 
Natal, 26, Victoria-street, London, S.W. There is a good 
demand for female domestic servants, but they should not go 
alone unless they go to friends, as they will find suitable lodgings 
very expensive and difficult to obtain, and will incur other risks. 
Advanced passages to the Transvaal may be obtained by female 
servants in special cases on application to the South African 
Expansion Committee, Imperial Institute, London, S.W. 
Single men who can ride are wanted for the South African Con- 
stabulary. They should apply at the Recruiting Office in 
King’s-court, Broadway, Westminster, S.W. — Report of the 
Emigrants Information Office. 
FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 
Retail Price Statistics. — In a report recently issued the 
Massachusetts Bureau of Labour Statistics presents the results 
of an investigation into the direct cost of living to working men 
at present as compared with earlier times. The dates selected 
are 1872, 1881, 1897 and the present year. The figures upon 
which the report is based cover retail prices in the different cities 
and towns in the State in which considerable numbers of persons 
are employed in manufacturing industries, and they have been 
obtained by special agents of the bureau from establishments 
largely patronized by working people. The prices given repre- 
sent average quotations for rent, board and the various articles 
of household consumption. It should be recollected that to 
avoid misleading conclusions, due to the fact that in 1872 
currency values were considerably inflated as compared with 
gold, the figures given in the tables for that year have been 
brought to the gold basis. 
It will occasion no surprise to learn that a number of the 
ordinary articles of domestic consumption show an increase in 
1902' as compared with 1897. Among these are rye flour, dried 
codfish, rice, beans, tea (Oolong), good brown sugar, common 
soap and starch. All of the articles classified under the head 
of provisions, including meats of various kinds, lard, butter, 
cheese, potatoes and milk, show higher prices in the latter year 
as compared with the earlier. On the other hand, wheat flour, 
coffee (Rio, green and roasted), granulated sugar, molasses 
syrup and eggs are lower. Coal is higher and wood somewhat 
• lower. Most of the kinds of dry goods particularised, shirting, 
sheeting, cotton flannel, ticking and prints are higher. Rents 
for four- and six-room tenements are higher, but quotations for 
board are lower. It is to be borne in mind in considering these 
figures that 1897 was a year of low prices, while at the time the 
figures before us were obtained, viz., April last, prices of meats 
and other provisions were unusually high. 
A different showing is made, however, when a comparison 
is instituted with 1872. Here decreases in price in favour of 
the present year are the rule and increases the exception. Out 
of fifty-four items particularised in the table only ten show 
increases over the thirty-year period. Among groceries only 
corn meal, dried codfish and beans show increases, and among 
provisions, including meats, every one of which, excepting eggs, 
showed a gain in 1902 over 1897, the only increases noted are in 
forequarter of mutton, mutton chops, fresh and salted pork, 
and hams and potatoes. Some of the decreases are very 
marked, as in the cases of wheat flour and sugar, which cost 
only about half what they did in 1872. A computation of the 
percentage changes in prices for groceries and provisions as a 
whole is arrived at by applying to the quotations obtained the 
ratios determined by the Senate Finance Committee in 1892. 
The result indicates a decrease in the price of groceries of 703 
per cent, in 1902, as compared with 1897, and an increase of 
I9‘54 per cent, in the price of provisions. As compared with 
1872, however, there was a decline of 44x17 per cent, in the 
grocery prices and of 8 '88 per cent, in those of provisions. 
The extent of the change in prices is set forth in another way in 
a series of tables showing the quantity of a given commodity 
which could be purchased for a dollar in each of the years 
mentioned. Some of the results are striking. We find, for 
example, that of so important a commodity as family wheat 
flour a dollar would purchase 43 ‘48 pounds in 1902, as compared 
with 15-38 pounds in 1872, while of granulated sugar a dollar 
would purchase 18-87 pounds in 1902, as compared with 8-33 
pounds in 1872. One of the noteworthy features of the showing 
is the decrease in the price Of board over the thirty-year period. 
In 1873. the average price pf board for men of the class under 
consideration was $5-62 ; in 1902 it was $3-91, a marked de- 
crease as will be seen. The fall in the. price of board for women 
has not been so marked, the decline being from $375 in 1872 to 
$3 '34 i 11 the present year. The cost for four-room tenements 
has gone down in the interval, while that for six-room tenements 
has gone up. Ii is probable that the increased rent for apart- 
ments is in part owing to the introduction of greater comforts 
and conveniences. An analysis is made in part of the reports 
of a number of family budgets, with a view of determining the 
effects of price changes upon the cost of living. Here the 
comparisons are not worked out in detail as in the case of the 
commodities mentioned above. A general computation indicates 
a decrease in 1902 of i9'92 per cent., or about one-fifth in the 
cost of living as compared with 1872. 
+ 
EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION. 
The Imperial Institute acts in concert with the Emigrants' 
Information Office ( which is under the direction of the 
Colonial Office), of 31, Broadway, Westminster, S. W. ; 
and also with the British Women s Emigration Asso- 
ciation, now temporarily carrying on its work in 
rooms at the Institute. The Handbooks and Quarterly 
Circulars issued by the Emigrants' Information Office 
may be obtained at the Commercial Intelligence Office. 
Special information and practical advice respecting 
Canada and Cape Colony will also be f urnished by the 
Curators of these Sections , 
UNITED KINGDOM. 
British Women’s Emigration Association.— The hon. 
sec. reports 312 applications received between October 21 and 
November 21, at the office at the Imperial Institute. The total 
since the beginning of the year is 5,826. The number of 
enquiries from would-be emigrants to South Africa, increased 
enormously after the declaration of peace ; and again from the 
notices in the papers of the facilities offered by the Transvaal 
Government for the servants required at Johannesburg. The 
local Committee of the South African Expansion Committee has 
become an Advisory Committee to the Women’s Immigration 
Department of the Transvaal Administration, and the selection 
of the women is placed in the hands of the South African 
Expansion Committee in London. Frequent parties are sent out 
under the care of the most experienced matrons of the Associa- 
tion. The scheme provides for the expenses of the journey being 
paid for each servant, and she binds herself to repay ^12 in 
monthly instalments after her arrival in the colony. None but 
those requisitioned by the authorities at Johannesburg can obtain 
these advantages. Persons in the colony who wish to have out 
a servant or a relation on these terms, must apply out there to 
the Women's Immigration Department. Wives going to join 
their husbands are arranged for by the Colonial Office. There 
are no more indulgence passages in troopships to be had, but 
287 persons recommended by the South African Committee have 
been granted this privilege on fifteen occasions, since July, 1901. 
In consequence of the increase of work the South African 
Committee has taken offices at 47, Victoria-street, S.W,, with 
accommodation for a larger staff, and its various departments — 
Educational, Registry, etc. 
The number of reception homes in South Africa is 
growing. Besides the one at Rosebank, another Hostel is to be 
built at Cape Town, on the Groote Schuur property ; a Hostel is 
provided at 95, De Villiers-street, Johannesburg, by the 
Transvaal Administration ; the Government of the Grange 
River Colony proposes to open one at Bloemfontein ; the Mayor 
of Durban intends to build a special house for young women in 
business; the Natal Government has voted £200 towards the 
immigration of women, and the South African Expansion Com- 
mittee has contributed £100 towards the establishment of a 
Hostel for women at Maritzburg ; the Young Women's Christian 
Association Home at Port Elizabeth is being enlarged to re- 
ceive travellers ; the Hostels at Bulawayo and Salisbury are 
assisted by the Chartered Company ; and the Committee being 
formed at Pretoria by Lady Lyttelton will probably undertake 
the matter at that centre. 
Although South Africa is chiefly in the public mind at 
present, Canada has not been neglected by the British Women's 
Emigration Association. Since March 243 persons have been 
sent out there, either to situations or to friends, or to be placed 
by the local correspondents at Vancouver, Winnipeg and 
Montreal. The co-operation of the Women's National Immi- 
gration Society is of great value, and the kind reception of the 
parties with their matrons at the Home, 87, Osborne-street, 
Montreal, is much appreciated. Many employers in Ontario are 
sending over half the passage money for servants to be selected 
and sent out to them by the Association. A small party of these 
will sail on December 4, but after this date, no more will be sent 
until the season opens in March or April. 
In addition to the 243 to Canada, 38 to Australia, 17 to 
New Zealand, 18 to the States, and one to Port Said — total 317 — 
have been sent out by the British Women's Emigration Associa- 
tion since the beginning of the year. Loans towards passages 
have been granted to the amount of ^346, and in the same time 
£2 78 has been received in the repayment of loans. The total 
number of persons to South Africa has been 436. 
The Wortley Hostel is now satisfactorily established at 
22, Upper Westbourne-terrace, Paddington, London, W. It 
is to be formally opened on December 8 at 4.30. The Earl 
of Meath has promised to speak. Subscribers and others 
interested in the work of the Association are invited to attend 
and to inspect the arrangements of the house. Over 160 
travellers have already passed through, some parties numbering 
32 at a time. 
Women arriving from the Colonies can be received as 
temporary lodgers ; and Colonial readers of this last number of 
the Imperial Institute Journal should make a note of 
the address. If any recipients of the Journal have been in the 
habit of noticing the monthly reports of the emigration work 
carried on at the Imperial Institute, it is hoped that they maybe 
sufficiently interested in it, to care to take in The Imperial 
Colonist, the monthly organ of the Association, to be had for 
2 S. 6d. a year post free, from the Hon. Sec., British Women's 
Emigration Association, the Imperial Institute, London, S.W. 
COLONIES. 
Canada’s Immigrants. — The revised returns of immigra- 
tion into Canada for the fiscal year ended June 30 last show 
that the total number of arrivals was 67,320, an increase of 
i8,o8r over the previous year. The greatest gain was in the 
arrivals from the United States, the total being 26,312, as 
against 17,987 for the previous year, a gain of 8,325. British 
arrivals came next, with a gain of 5,449. The figures for the 
first two months of the present fiscal year show a total immigrant 
arrival of 15,265, as against 8,233 for the corresponding two 
months of the previous year. At the emigration branch of the 
High Commissioner's office it is anticipated that the record of 
the arrival of settlers in Canada for the fiscal year 1902-3 will 
be l be most significant in the history of the department. 
Emigration to South Africa.— It will not be the fault of 
the Austrian Government if unsuitable emigrants from that 
country reach the new British colonies in South Africa, or if 
suitable persons proceed thither in excess of the demand for 
labour. A further semi-official warning has been published by 
several of the Vienna newspapers. It says that the emigration 
of Austrian subjects to South Africa is so large as to justify the 
suspicion that a secret agitation is being carried on for the 
purpose of securing emigrants. That circumstance has 
induced the Ministry of the Interior to give an account of the 
condition of affairs in the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies 
which it has received from a trustworthy source. This, it adds, 
shows that a melancholy fate awaits the emigrants. The 
Ministry furthermore calls attention to the restrictions imposed 
by the British authorities upon foreign emigrants, and to the 
fact that numbers of the latter are already obliged to spend 
three months and more in the coast towns, where "the majority 
of them can find no work. The Ministry, consequently, warns 
all intending emigrants against those who, for the sake of fees, 
promise them work in the new colonies, and thus secure an 
income by criminal means. The communiqui concludes by 
stating that all persons who carry on a propaganda in favour of 
emigration will be proceeded against with the utmost rigour. — 
The Times. 
-+ 
CUSTOMS TARIFFS. 
UNITED KINGDOM. 
Import Duty on Dextrine. — The following General Order, 
dated the 30th ult,, has been issued by the Board of Customs, 
fixing the rate of import duty leviable on dextrine imported into 
the United Kingdom : — 
' ' The Board direct, with reference to Section 7 of the Finance 
Act, 1901, that on and after the 3rd proximo, imported dextrine 
be charged with duty at the rate of 6^d. the cwt. on the net 
weight of the article." 
COLONIES. 
Australian Commonwealth. — Drawback Regulations 
under Excise Act, 1901. — A copy of the Commonwealth of 
Australia Gazette for 19th September, 1902, contains drawback 
regulations made under the Excise Act, 1901, as follows : — 
Drawback Regulations. — Several items of drawback, though 
each less than ^i, may, if they total £1, be included and 
allowed in one claim or debenture. In the case of goods 
exported on or after the 1st day of September, 1902, the draw- 
back allowable pursuant to the Act and Regulations shall be the 
full amount of duty paid, if such duty shall have been paid under 
any Tariff of the Commonwealth, notwithstanding it may be 
more than the Excise duty payable at the time of export. 
Free Importation of Certain Articles for Naval 
and Military Uniforms. — A Customs By-Law dated 13th 
September, 1902, is also published in the same Gazette, notifying 
that — 
Accoutrements, badges, buttons, braid and lace for naval 
and military unilorms may be delivered for home consumption, 
free of duty, provided the Collector is first satisfied that such 
goods are intended to be forthwith so used, and that security to 
the satisfaction of the Collector is also first furnished to him by 
the importer that the same shall be so used, and that within six 
months from the date of such delivery proof shall be given to, 
and to the satisfaction of, the Collector that such goods have 
been so used by the importer. 
Customs Regulations, — The Board of Trade have 
received a copy of Regulations, issued by the Commonwealth 
Department of Trade and Customs on the 19th September, 1902, 
under sec. 163 of the Customs Act of 1901. The Regulations in 
question are as follows : — 
Claims for refunds, rebates, or remissions of duty under 
Section 163 of the Customs Act, 1901, may be made not later 
than three days after the goods have passed from the control of 
the Customs or the duty has been paid, or such further time, not 
later than one week from such passing or payment as the 
Comptroller-General shall, in writing, see fit to allow. But 
unless made as aforesaid no such claim shall be received or 
allowed. 
Bahamas.— Export Duty on Pineapple Plants,— 
The Board of Trade have received a copy of the Bahamas 
“Export Duty Act, 1902" {No. 24 of 1902), which received the 
assent of the Governor-in-Council on 14th May, 1902, and 
which provides for the imposition of a duty on all pineapple 
plants exported from the Bahama Islands, the export duty to be 
at the rate of 10s, for the first hundred, with an additional duty 
ol 10s. for every hundred or part of a hundred thereafter. 
The above Act will come into force upon a date which will 
be notified in the Official Gazette, and will continue in force for 
two years from the date of passing, and from thence to the end 
of the next Session of Assembly. It is provided in the Act that 
the words “ pineapple plants ” are to mean slips, suckers or tops 
of pineapples to be used for the purposes of planting. 
Wireless Telegraphy Restricted, except under 
Certain Conditions. — A copy of a “ Wireless Telegraphy- 
Restriction Act, 1902 " {No. 22 of 1902) was received at the 
same time, which was also assented -to by the Governor-in- 
Council on 14th May, 1902. The present Act provides that it 
shall be unlawful for any person in the Bahama Islands to 
transmit or receive messages across the seas by means of any 
wireless telegraphy whatsoever, unless such person shall have 
previously received the consent, in writing, of the Colonial 
Secretary of the Governor-in-Council authorising the same. 
Any person violating the provisions of the Act is liable, on 
summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding £2.00. 
Barbados. — At a special meeting of the Legislature on the 
21st October, a Bill to increase the duties on all imported articles 
by 20 per cent, was introduced and passed through its various, 
stages to come into operation the following morning. The Bill 
also contained a passage to increase the Excise duties on rum 
and tobacco of local manufacture in a similar manner. This 
measure has not met with general favour, but has been hurried 
through its stages and passed as the quickest and most expedient 
way to raise the funds necessary to meet the expenses of the 
small-pox outbreak. 
Natal.— Further Extension of Time for Free Im- 
portation of Foreign Wheat, etc.— A Protocol to the 
Customs Union Convention of 1898 provides that flour, wheaten, 
and wheaten meal (including pollard) manufactured from other 
than South African wheat, and intended for consumption in the 
Colony of Natal, may be imported free of duty to 3rd January, 
1904. 
St. Lucia.— Importation of Cattle from St. Vincent 
Prohibited. — The Board of Trade have received from the 
Administrator of St. Lucia a copy of an Order-in-Council dated 
20th October, 1902, prohibiting under Sec. 109 (1) of the Customs 
Ordinance, 1888, the importation of cattle from St. Vincent, in 
consequence of the existence of anthrax in that colony. 
Importation of Goods from Barbados Prohibited. — 
A copy of an Order-in-Council, approved and passed by the 
Governor-in-Council on 21st October, 1902, has also been 
received, by which, under the authority of Ordinance No. 13 of 
1902, the importation into St. Lucia from the island of Barbados 
so long as that island continues to be an infected place under 
he Quarantine Ordinance, 1895, 011 account of the existence of 
