LONDON IN FIGURES.

Timaru Herald, Volume LX, Issue 2184, 11 September 1896, Page 3

LONDON IN FIGURES.

London, with its five million inhabitan.s, is the most marvellous city m the world. It covers an area stretching 13 miles from north to south, and 17 miles from east to west. This radius embraces aperplexingnetworkof7soomilesofroads squares, streets, lanes, etc. Every day 400 children are born, 250 enter school for the first time, and 200 begin their apprenticeship. Every day 150 persons marry, and 200 die. London is fearfully overcrowded. Although, during last year, one hundred thousand new houses were erected, being an average of 900 per month, rents are so high that upwards of 60,000 poor families severally occupy a single room. It is a representative city, for m it may be seen people of nearly every nation, colour, race, and religion. London shelters more Jews than are to be found m Palestine, more Scotch people than Glasgow, and more Irish than Dublin. It contains upwards of 50,000 Germans, and a similar number of Italians. Many thousands each of French, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese people mingle m its crowded thoroughfares. A million persona travel daily on the underground railways, and for the 2,500,000 people who daily prefer to travel by road, 5000 omnibuses, 7500 hansoms, 14,800 cabs, 6600 tramcars are inconstant requisition. London has 80 Hospitals for adults, andl4 for children, dealing annually with more than a million patients, of whom a third are accident cases. London has 13 parks, covering 3500 acres. For lovers of the drama 37 theatres open nightly, with a total seating capacity of 65,000, of which an 'average of 40,000 people avail themselves, and for patrons of art there are 12 "picture galleries, (3 of them fr.ee), and there are 11 museums (5 of them free).