RICH AND POOR SUBURBS

Evening Star, Issue 19786, 9 February 1928, Page 9

RICH AND POOR SUBURBS

HOW LONDON EQUALISES MATTERS HELP FOR POOR DISTRICTS. At the end of November the British .Ministry of Health issued a statement showing the financial transactions of the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund in respect of the half-year ended March 31, 1927. The statistics arc interesting on account of the information they afford as to the measure of assistance which the poorer unions derive from the fund. The total expenditure chargeable upon the fund during the period in question was £3,1(54,01)0, _ and amount payable to the poorer unions was £l,237,000. The unions receiving the largest sums in the half-year were:— Poplar, £280,000, equivalent to a rate of 6s Id in the £. Stepney, £183,000, equivalent to a rate of 2s 2d in the £. Bermondsey, £134,000, equivalent to a rate of 3s Od in the £. Greenwich, £115,000, equivalent to a rate of 3s 6d in the £. Bethnal Green, £IIO,OOO, equivalent to a rate of 3s 10d in the £. Camberwell, £IOO,OOO, equivalent to a rate of Is 3d in the £. The total amount charged to the fund in respect of outdoor relief for the half-year was £1,218,000. More than half of this sum—£69l,oo0 —was spent by six out of the twenty-five boards of guardians in London—namely, Poplar, £199,000; Stepney, £122,000; Bermondsey, £109,000; Greenwich, £100,000; Bethnal Green, £80,000; Camberwell, £BI,OOO, Unions making the largest contributions to the fund wore: City of Westminster, £440,000; and City of London, £435,0(10.