CITIES OF OLD WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 162, 11 July 1925, Page 18

CITIES OF OLD WORLD.

AMAZING GROWTH. THE RECORD OF CARDIFF. g COVENTRY'S MARVELLOUS | PROCP.ES*. | Tt is tho general helio. tiiat "Western I America has a monopoly on records for | mushroom growth of towni and cities. | It comes as rather a surprise to read of ™ the astonishing growth of some Old Country towns within tlie last half century. Xo city in Iho world can boat Eondon in the matter of population, for it is still the greatest city in existence, and will probably retain this proud preeminence for some time to come. In the matter of growth, however, there are many British towns which can give London points, and a beating. Cardiff holds the record in this respect, with a rate, of growth of proportionately four times that of London. A century ago there was not a single dock at Cardiff, which was then a sleepy little place, with some four hundred houses and a thousand people. In IS3O the second .Marquis of Bute obtained powers to construct the Bute West dock, and since that date Cardiff lias jumped in the most astonishing fashion. Between IS4O and ISSO her coal exports rose from 411,000 to 660.000 tons, and by the beginning of the present century her population was approaching -200,000, and rising at tlie rate of 2000 a year. Coventry is another city which lias gone, ahead marvellously. Of late years it lias been increasing much faster than even Cardiff. In 1901 Coventry's population was about 70,000, but within tho following ton years it had increased no less than 50 per cent. The town is still going ahead very rapidly, and so, too, are Leicester, Leeds, bheiikld and Portsmouth. The last-mentioned is now a city of over a-quarter of a million, with a population which increases at the rate of about 4000 yearly. Between Leeds and Sheffield there has always been the keenest rivalry. Both were made cities in 1893, and ever since there has been a neck-and-neck race between the two. Both claim populations of about half a million, but, although before tbe war Sheffield had a slight advantage, the recent depression in the steel trade has since given th town of cloth a pull ovr hr old rival. Yet Sheffield still produces tool steel luch as no other place on earth can equal, and many years of active growth arc no doubt before her. Tonypandy is an example of what coal cau do for a place. In- ISSO Tonypandy was a tiny villag in the heart of a wood. To-day it is said to be one of the wealthiest urban districts in tne kingdom, with a population of many thousands. Sometimes towns take what seems to he unfair advantage hy greatly increasing their municipal bo/djidaries. There was a time, not so many years ago, when Birmingham claimed the title of the second city in the British Isles. Then Glasgow got a bill through the House of Commons which enabled her to include Govan, Patrick, and Pollokshaws within her municipal area, which increased her population from just under 800,000 to over 1,000,000. To-day Glasgow contains nearly a-quarter of Scotland's population, and is larger than. Manchester, Birmingham or Liverpool. a