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2
SECTION A
STATISTICS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
I. General. Statistics.
Area in Acres 1,408
Total Population( including Service personnel) 38,590
Number of inhabited houses (approx.) 11,744
Rateable Value-General Rate (1.4.59) £1,122,385
Sum represented by Penny Rate (Year 1959/60) £1 3,989
The total number of hereditaments is 14,389 of which
80% are domestic dwellings. There are 2,396 commercial premises
in the town being 16% of the total hereditaments. The remaining
premises totalling 430 are classified as industrial,
entertainment, public utility, educational and miscellaneous.
2. Social Conditions.
The Royal and Ancient Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames
is a thriving market town situated in the County of Surrey on
the south bank of the river Thame. and in the Greater London
area. The shopping centre provides the main economic function,
but there is also an important industrial activity mainly in
Aircraft and Engineering. Kingston is also a busy centre for
education and recreation, and is to some extent a dormitory
town for London business people.
An outstanding factor influencing the social conditions
is the fact of high employment and the Manager of the local
Employment Exchange has kindly provided the following information
regarding employment in Kingston and the surrounding
districts,
"My review of the employment situation at December
1958, ended on a note of caution. Despite slightly increased
numbers of persons placed in employment during 1958, unemployed
registers were somewhat higher than at the end of 1957. In the
first few weeks of 1959 the numbers of unemployed continued to
rise, but from February onwards the registers declined almost
without interruption untill early October, when the usual
seasonal increase in unemployment began. The increase proved
to be shortlived, however, and at Christmas the lowest unemployed
figures of the year were recorded - 357 men and 90 women,
compared with 515 men and 95 women at the beginning of the year.
During the year 3,585 men and 1,135 women were placed
in employment in the area of the Kingston Employment Exchange
compared with 3,594 and 1,303 in 1958, Additionally, 232 men
and 80 women were found employment in other Exchange areas,
almost entirely within daily travelling distance. This overall
total of 5,032 compares with a total of 5,184 placed in work in
1958, and with 4,945 in 1957. Among 15 workers for whom work
was obtained in new or expanded towns in 1959. 3 were residents
of Kingstone
In the building trade the prolonged fine weather
allowed work to continue at a high level late: into the Autumn,
and the usual seasonal increase in unemployment towards the
end of the year was less pronounced than is normally the case.
Considerably fewer workers were placed in the aircraft
industry than in 1958, and small redundancies and customary
wastage have resulted in a reduction in the numbers employed
in the industry, but at the end of 1959 it still had more
workers than it had a year previously.