Poverty and Riches Map of London

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 437, 20 August 1928, Page 11

Poverty and Riches Map of London

Great Sociological Survey to be Made A great sociological survey of London life on the lines of that made by Charles Booth 25 years ago is about to be made. The London School of Economies has undertaken to find out how the life of London has changed in the last quarter of a century. Sir William Beveridge, director of the school; Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith, late Permanent Secretary of the Board of Trade; and Mr. S. P. Markham are to be responsible for the survey, assisted by a staff of experts. Costing £15,000, of which £IO,OOO is in hand, the survey is expected to take five years. One of the most fascinating maps in existence was shown to a representative of “The Sunday News” by Mr. Markham, who is secretary of the survey, in his office at the School of Economics. This is a map of the social condition of London 30 years ago. Patches in black indicate the very lowest class, in blue the very poor, in light blue the poor, in purple a mixed class, in pink the fairly comfortable, in red the well-to-do, and in orange the upper classes. Two of the blackest patches 30 years ago were in Westminster and near Great Queen Street, Kingsway. “The new survey will enable us to discover if centres of poverty have changed,” Mr. Markham said. “Thirty years ago a dividing line between poverty and comfort was the Regent’s Canal. North of the canal the population was fairly well-to-do, south exactly the reverse. “We shall be able to find out if there is less or more poverty to-day. and whpi-e it is centred. “Broadly we shall follow Mr. Booth’s plan of inquiring into poverty, industry and religious influences, although we may have to omit the latter, and we are fortunate in having Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith to help us, for he was one of Mr. Booth’s assistants.”