RICH AND POOR SUBURBS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 29, 4 February 1928, Page 14

RICH AND POOR SUBURBS.

HOW LONDON EQUALISES MATTERS.

HELP FOR POOR DISTRICTS.

At the end of November the British Ministry of Health issued a statement showing the financial transactions of the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund in respect of the half-year ended March 31, 1927. The statistics are interesting on account of the information they afford as to the measure of assistance which the poorer unions derive from the fund.

The total expenditure chargeable upon the fund during the period in question was £3,164,000, and the amount payable to tha poorer unions was £1,237,000. The unions receiving the largest sums in the half-year were:—?

Poplar, £280,000, equivalent to a rate of 6/1 in the £. Stepney, £183,000, equivalent to a rate of 2/2 in the £. Bermondsey, £134,000, equivalent to a rate of 3/6 in the £. Greenwich, £115,000, equivalent to a rate of 3/6 in the £. Bethnal Green, £110,000, equivalent to a rate of 3/10 in the £. CamherwelJ, £100,000, equivalent to a rate of 1/3 in the £.

The total amount charged to the fund in respect of outdoor relief for the halfyear was £1,218,000. More than half of this sum^— spent by six out of the 25 Boards of Guardians in London, namely:—Poplar, £199,000; Stepney, £122,000; Bermo nd »e y, £109,000; Greenwich, £100,000; Bethnal Green, £80,000; Camberwell, £81,000. , Unions making the largest contributions to the fund were:—City of West£440 ' 00 °; and City of London, *439,000.