Prices are likely to be much lower shortly. At present tea is 3
shillings per pound, coffee 2 shillings 6 pence, rice 10 pence per
pound, fresh meat 1 shilling 6 pence, corned beef 3 shillings per tin of
2 pounds, flour 6 pence per pound, soap per bar 1 shilling 6 pence,
fresh butter 7 shillings to 8 shillings per pound, sugar 1 shilling,
matches 1 penny per box, eggs 15 shillings to 18 shillings per dozen,
candles 3 pence each, fowls 5 shillings each, potatoes 160 pounds for 4
pounds; vegetables dear.
Wages are high, as might be supposed. Masons and bricklayers obtain 30
shillings per day, tailors 35 shillings per day, carpenters 25 shillings
to 30 shillings per day, compositors 9 pounds per week, plumbers and
painters 9 pounds per week, waiters, 12 to 15 pounds per month, clerks,
first-class, 35 pounds per month, ordinary clerks, 15 to 25 pounds per
month, white labourers, 5 shillings per day, black labourers from 1
shilling 3 pence to 2 shillings per day. The Government lately gave
eighty white labourers work on the park at 5 shillings per day to keep
them from starvation.