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6
GENERAL.
Shoreditch is a district of irregular shape, of which the two longest
diagonals are approximately one and a half miles. Its boundaries are as
follow :—Hackney, N. & N.E.; Bethnal Green, E ; Stepney, S.E.; City, S.;
Finsbury, W.; Islington, N. & N.W. The average height of the Borough
above sea level is 60 feet.
The subsoil of the Borough is London clay with many pockets of gravel.
Some areas are covered to a depth of three feet with a good quality sandy
gravel on this subsoil.
Refuse material, probably from the City and other adjacent areas, which
has been deposited on this subsoil during the last 100 years or more, now
has a depth of approximately five feet.
The Meteorological Table for London, deduced from observations at
Greenwich under the superintendence of the Astronomer Royal, issued by
the Registrar-General for 1931, shows a rainfall for the year of 634 millimetres.
This figure is 38 millimetres above the average for the thirty-five
years, 1881-1915.
SOCIAL CONDITIONS.
There is a tendency, the full development of which is, however, checked
by the Rents Restrictions Acts, for business premises to replace dwelling
houses, and, further, for large factories and businesses to replace the small
workshops and retail shops that have long been a feature of the life of the
Borough.
As is well known, furniture making is firmly established in Shoreditch.
Many craftsmen in a small way of business follow this trade in workshops
situated in converted dwelling houses and in sheds in back yards.
It is not possible, owing to the overlapping in the lists received from
employers, to state the number of home workers accurately, but 600 may be
taken as the approximate figure. This is 100 less than last year's figure, the
decrease being doubtless to some extent due to unemployment and slackness
in trade.
Unemployment, which has weighed heavily upon the people of this
Borough for several years, was more prevalent in 1931 than in the preceding
years. This fact is shown in the following table, for which I have to thank
the Director of Statistics of the Ministry of Labour : —