THE "LITTLE" CITY.

Patea Mail, Volume 1, Issue 12, 22 May 1875, Page 2

THE "LITTLE" CITY.

The vast aggregation of buildings which may now be legitimately termed London extends from Croydon to Finchly, and from Woolwich and Stratford to Wimbledon and Brentford, covering some 120 square miles, with continuous ranges of houses, but with intervals of unbuilt spaces, which, however, are in course of being rapidly filled in. It can ■- scarcely be termed a city in the strict sense of the word, but an agglomeration of towns and villiagcs, each with its High-street of business, and the whole huddled together without order or system.

consisting, as Sir C. 801 l described it’ “ of insignificant parts almost indefinitely multiplied.” The people of London placed in .single file, allowing 18 inches to each, would reach 1,200 miles—or from London to the Artie Sea, the Crimea, Asia Minor, or the Desert of Sahara, in Africa; and would require a fortnight of incessant walking, day and night, at the rate of four miles an hour, to pass ap t q given point. There are within its more Homan Catholics than in sPme, more Scotchmen than in Edinburgh, and more Irishmen than in Dublin; whilst, as an instance of its motley population, there is a hospital for Portugncs Jews alone. 10,000 houses, forming 4 G miles of streets, have been erected during the last two years, and it is calculated that, to meet the wants of the increasing population, 10 new churches and as many largo elementary school buildings will require to be built annually. Other instances of the immensity of the population of London are that three-quarters of a million of business men cuter the city in the morning, and leave it in the evening for their suburban residences. There arc 10,000 policemen, as many cab drivers, and the same number of persons connected with the Post-Office, each of whom, with their families, would make a large town. When London makes holiday there are several places of resort, such as the Crystal Palace, &e., which absorb from 30,000 to 50,000 visitors each. The cost of gas for lighting is £2,500,000 annually ; the water supply 100,000,000 gallons per diem. In the year 1873 there were 573 fires, and for the purpose of supplying information on the passing events of the day 314 daily and weekly newspapers arc required. What London will do eventtually become it is idle to predicate. It already stands in four counties, and is striding onward to a fifth (Herts). The probability is that by the end of the ccntuary the population will exceed five millions, and will thus have quintupled itself in the century. Should it progress at an equal rate in the next, it will in the year 2,000 amount to the enormous aggregate of 25 millions, and the question that naturally arises, is how could such a multitude be supplied with food ? But the fact is that the more its population increases the better they are fed. In the Plantagenet days, when the population was not a third of a million, famines were of frequent occurrence, but now, with the command of the pastures, the harvests, and the fisheries of the world, starvation becomes an almost impossible eventuality, even with 25 millions of mouths to feed.