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7
maternity and unemployment benefits. Considerable improvement
in the National stamina is to be expected from these
causes.
The facilities for communication with London have been
much improved, both by means of rail and car, with the result
that the type of population tends to change in character. The
most noticable features which seem in some measure to be
associated with this cause are a shrinkage in the birth and
death rates. In order to foster the increase of this section of
our population, a high ideal of sanitation should be maintained,
and care taken in laying out of new districts so as to
achieve some degree of architectural beauty not only in the
houses themselves, but also in the way they are arranged. It
is of great importance in every district that is likely to grow
to any extent, that every facility should be used to direct this
growth along such channels as will avoid the errors of the
past. The Housing and Town Planning Act m some measure
meets this need, and use should be made of its provisions.
The ratable value has increased from £179,599 to £190,330
which is due partly to an increase in the number of houses
built and partly to a re-assessment of existing properties.
Vital Statistics.
The population at the last census taken at the end of the
first quarter in 1911, was 31,294, an increase of 9,647 on that
taken in 1901. Assuming that the rate of increase has been
maintained, the population at the middle of the year ought
to be 32,521.
The distribution in the various wards is given in the following
table.
The full particulars with respect to age distribution are
not yet obtainable.