THE COST OF LIVING ABROAD. REPORTS AND STATISTICS SHOWING THE PRICES OF HOUSE-RENT, WAGES, COMPARED WITH THOSE OF THE YEAR 1858, AT MOST OF THE PRINCIPAL PLACES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. COMPILED FROM OFFICIAL RETURNS LAID BEFORE PARLIAMENT. BY CHARLES TOLL BIDWELL, F.R.G.S. HER MAJESTY'S CONSUL FOR THE BALEARIC ISLA WITH AN APPENDIX Showing Hotel Charges and other Particulars not included in the Official Reports, LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET. 1876. All rights reserved. 232. g. 294. INTRODUCTION. WHERE to live in these dear times' is a question which gives matter for serious thought to the head of many a household, and what it costs to live abroad is a subject. that has doubtless occupied the mind of many persons who are not detained at home by business, duty, or inclination; but few persons have hitherto been able to form a correct idea of the cost of living in a foreign country until they had actually settled there. The trustworthy information on this head which has been so carefully collected and furnished by Her Majesty's Consular Officers abroad appears to the compiler of these pages to be too valuable, and of too much general interest, to be allowed to be buried in a series of bulky Blue Books. He has endeavoured, therefore, to rescue it from that fate, and put it within reach of the general reader, in the form of a book of reference, in the belief that it may not be without interest to travellers and others, and especially those who may contemplate establishing themselves abroad; while clerks or other persons seeking situa tions in foreign countries may obtain information as to salaries, and the cost of the maintenance of their families, which it would be difficult, if not impossible, to procure elsewhere. The data in these pages were collected together by the compiler of this work for his own information. Their publication in the present form was a subsequent idea in consequence of very numerous inquiries made of him in his official capacity as to the cost of living in his own district. He believes that such inquiries are frequently made of many of Her Majesty's Consuls. Should this work, in the somewhat crude state in which it is now necessarily published, prove as acceptable as it is thought it may be to the general public, no pains will be spared to render subsequent editions as complete as possible, and to bring the information from time to time down to the most recent date; but it may here be remarked that where detailed particulars are not yet given for a place, a fair idea of the cost of living there may be formed by reference to the information already furnished for some other place in the neighbourhood or in the same country. By the courtesy of the proprietors of The Queen' the compiler has been enabled to add the useful particulars contained in the Appendix in regard to hotel charges, apartments, and temporary living, in various places besides those mentioned in the Official Reports. These data are taken from the answers to correspondents that have appeared in that journal during the past year, and which the compiler has special permission to include in this book. The general increase in the cost of living everywhere is illustrated in a remarkable manner in these pages. The really cheap places to live in seem to be few and far between. Perhaps, after all, there are corners in the United Kingdom' where persons of limited income may live more cheaply, and doubtless more comfortably, than in many of the reputed cheap places abroad. Whilst these pages were going through the press, a statement appeared in the papers that the guardians of the Roscrea Union had accepted a tender for the supply of best beef' at 3d. per pound, and they say the meat is really best beef,' and that 3d. per pound is the price they have paid for several years. Which goes far to prove the truth of our remark. ་ |