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11
SECTION I.
SOCIAL CONDITIONS, HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION
AND VITAL STATISTICS.
Croydon is largely a dormitory town, but is becoming increasingly
industrialised. The chief industries are iron foundries (bell
casting), engineering and building. The London Terminal Aerodrome
is within the County Borough boundary.
Croydon is an aggregation of townships, each of which shows
its own characteristics. Bad structural housing conditions are met
with, particularly in Whitehorse and Central Wards, though their
are individual streets in nearly every ward in the town in which th
standard of house property is low, when compared with the other.
residential streets. Various miscellaneous industrial undertakings
are scattered throughout the Borough. This is a matter of some
moment. There is at present no power to prohibit factories being
placed anywhere in areas which are not scheduled under Town
Planning. As Town Planning deals with immediate and future
development, it does not affect old-established areas, and the
proximity of factories to residential areas has caused complaints
from time to time.
The population is growing rapidly. The increase of population
revealed in the 1931 census was 21.8% on that for 1921. This is
the highest rate of increase for any town having a population of
over 100,000 at the 1921 census.
The 1931 Census gave a total enumerated population of 233,115.
The estimated population middle of 1932 is 237,300. In the 1931
Census returns 5.59 was the average number of rooms per dwelling
and 1.16 the average number of families in each dwelling, which
gives 1.27 rooms per person. In 1931, 3.35% of the population was
living more than two persons per room, a decrease of nearly 1% on
the 1921 Census.