Living in Valparaiso (is not easy)
Mr Vice-Consul Arthur L.S. Rowley writes from Valparaiso in Chile in 1901 (BPP, link, p. 4):
“On account of the high exchange Valparaiso has become a most expensive city to live in, especially for people dependent on a sterling salary.
House rent is exceedingly high; a small house which in the United Kingdom would cost from 40l. to 50l. per year cannot be had here for less than from 130l. to 160l. All the necessities of life, with few exceptions, are at least 80 per cent, dearer than in the United Kingdom.
It, therefore, cannot be too clearly pointed out that what appears in the United Kingdom to be a fair, if not a good salary for a clerk, is in Valparaiso nothing more than a miserable pittance, and persons intending to settle here on sterling contracts should carefully study before proceeding the amount of their salaries which represent approximately only two-thirds of their value in the United Kingdom.”
“l.” refers to British Pound Sterling.
Entry filed under: BPP.
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