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SECTION A.—STATISTICS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
OF THE AREA.
Area (in acres) 3,238
Number of inhabited houses (end of 1939) according
to Rate Books 20,750
Rateable Value at 31st December, 1939 £620,675
Sum represented by Id. rate £2,522
Lying in the valley of the Thames and naturally drained
by its tributaries the River Wandle and the Pyl and Beverley
Brooks, the district is flat. The surface rises gently from
the northern or Wimbledon boundary towards the southern
limit of the Morden Ward, the whole lying between the 42ft.
and 141ft. ordnance datum levels. The subsoil in the
northern part is a sandy gravel which merges into the London
clay which extends throughout the great part of the district
lying to the south.
Industry. The number of factories registered under the
Factories Act at the year end was:—
Factories with mechanical power:—
Employing more than 40 persons 26
Employing less than 40 persons 67
Factories without mechanical power 8
101
The number of employees engaged in these premises is
approximately 7,000.
A list of the various trades carried on in the larger
factories is shown in the Sanitary Inspector's Report.
Unemployment. The number of Merton and Morden
residents registered at the Wimbledon and Sutton Exchanges
as unemployed at the beginning of 1940 was as shown below.
They do not, of course, represent the total of unemployed
since not all are registered at these two Exchanges.
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