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17 1938
SOCIAL CONDITIONS.
The housing activities of both the London County Council and the Borough
Council are now strikingly apparent in the Borough owing to the replacement of
a large part of the former housing accommodation by large blocks of flats. Careful
consideration has been given in the design of these to provide playground space,
and in many cases swings and other apparatus for the children. This is a marked
contrast with the former conditions, where the children, owing to their environment,
played in the streets. The next improvement which may come gradually when all
have settled under their new conditions, would be the education of the parents on
the necessity of better control over the family in insisting on an earlier bed-time for
the younger children. All the amenities which are now added for the social betterment
of the flat dwellers are bound in time to have an influence on their health
and general well-being.
It is difficult in the question of unemployment to pick out cases where it could
be definitely said that the health and physique had to a significant degree been
affected. With the agencies now at work, the Employment Exchange, the
Unemployment Assistance Board, the Public Assistance Committees, and the
thorough investigations which are made as regards the money which can be expended
on food, it would appear that a careful watch is kept so that the nourishment of the
individuals, adults and children, is not lost sight of.
I am indebted, as in former years, to the Local Employment Exchange for
figures showing the principal industries in the Borough of Islington and the numbers
there registered as unemployed at the two exchanges.

Principal industries in the Borough of Islington.
Building, General Engineering, Motor Engineering, Cabinet Making, Radio
and Battery Making, Heating and Ventilating Apparatus Manufacturing, Metal
Industries, Pianoforte Making, Hotel and Catering, Laundries, Transport, Printing,
Dressmaking and Millinery, Bakery, Distributive.
The figures given below show the number of workpeople employed in the various
industries at July, 1938, by employers in the area of the Holloway Exchange, the
largest majority being in the Borough of Islington. Figures for Islington Employers
in the King's Cross area are not included and cannot readily be obtained.
Men. Women. Juveniles. Total.
Building 3,941 29 149 4,119
Engineering 918 99 372 1,389
Motor Engineering 362 67 67 496
Cabinet Making 1,287 143 258 1,688
Radio and Battery Manufacture 1,945 2,534 748 5,227
Heating and Ventilating Apparatus
Manufacturing 528 26 225 779
Metal Industries 670 517 446 1,633
Pianoforte 428 35 73 536
Hotel and Catering 940 1,474 101 2,515
Laundries 432 1,541 541 2,514
Transport 1,504 28 117 1,649
Printing 861 412 343 1,616
Dressmaking and Millinery 73 856 276 1,205
Bakery 1,114 280 250 1,644
Distributive 5,633 2,862 1,860 10,355