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4
1913
It is true that this decrease amounted to only 2.8 per cent., but nevertheless
it showed for the first time that a check had been placed on the growth of
this large and populous borough, which for so many years had held the
foremost position in the great metropolis of the world. Since the enumeration
in April, 1911, the Registrar-General has estimated its population at the
middle of each year as follows:—
1911 327,585
1912 326,398 849 decrease on 1911
1913 325,585 1,818 ,, ,,
1914 324,764 1914 ,, ,,
Thus from mid 1911 to mid 1914 (the current year) there is an estimated
decrease of 2,639 persons. Unfortunately it is by no means certain that the
population is decreasing at the present time. The concensus of opinion is to
the contrary. House agents and others interested in property hold an opposite
view, and such facts and figures as the Medical Officer of Health has ascertained
support it. Thus at Lady Day, 1911, there were 47,491 rateable
hereditaments (houses, workshops, stables, etc.) of which 2,396 were unoccupied,
whereas at Lady Day, 1914, there were 47,738 hereditaments, ot
which only 1,458 were unoccupied, which is a decrease of 938 unoccupied
premises. During these three years there was also an increase of 1,185
rateable hereditaments—new property, etc.
Again it appears from the weekly returns made by the sub-inspectors of
the dust removal department that at the begining of 1913 there were 1,200
empty houses, while during the first three months of 1914 they have varied
from 736 to 695. These figures indicate a decrease of about 500 unoccupied
houses in one year. But the occupation of unlet houses has been increasing
steadily since the end ot 1910, when undoubtedly the period of slump that had
prevailed during a few preceding years came to an end, and a brighter period
began.
Mr. Charles Findlater, of the Town Clerk's Department, has informed
the Medical Officer of Health that the registers for the year ended 15th July,
1913, show that 783 ratepayers removed from other parts of the County of
London into Islington as ratepayers, and that a number also came into the
borough from lodgings elsewhere or became lodgers on entering the borough,
and that a further number came in from districts outside the County of
London, e.g., Hornsey, Tottenham, and other places coterminus with the
County, who, however, would not be qualified for registration until they had
resided here for twelve months. From these figures he thinks it fair to