Daily Honolulu press. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1886, 1885-12-18

about $4,000 persons ; while the old
"city" of London, including 66S
acres, or little more than one square
mile, now contains but 5I,43o inhabit-
ants, against 1888 eighty years ago.
Less than half as many people now
live in this little haunt of enormous
trade and banking as were living there
in 1901. Another ancient district
Westminster-which includes 7sI
acres, has the same population that it
had in 1901 10000. This is at the
rate Of 10000 to the square mile
which is packing the human sardines
rather close; but some parts of this
sardine-box have formerly held about
100000 to the square mile. We de-
pend upon an English statistician, Mr..
Price-Williams, for this information,
and he says further of this little spot
"The population of the sub-districts
of Berwick street and St. Anne's, Soho,
is the densest in the metropolis, and in
the case of Berwick street appears to
have attained its maximum, of 4so
lpeople per acre in 1851, the highest
number ever yet attained in any sub.
district in the metropolis during the
present century. In 1871 the density
of the population had increased to 4a7
people per acre. From. 1851 down to
the last census (I88I) there has been
a constant decrease in the population
of Berwick street sub-district and the
number of houses per acre the num-
Der Of people in each house has largely
increased until it is now the largest
lumber in any district in London, viz
1925 persons per house, or nearly
twice the average of the metropolis in
1881 The number of houses has de
creased from 334a per acre in 1881 to
3o.o9 in 1871; but the district still
possesses the largest number of houses
per acre in the metropolis. The SUBJ
district of St. Anne's, Soho, comes
next to Berwick street for density OF
population. In the st. Giles sub-dis.
trict the greatest density-viz 3o3
people per acre--was reached in I84I,
but since then 1t has rapidly decreased
to a33 in 1881"
A population Of 900 per acre is
100000 to the square mile, and, al
though this was possible upon small
areas in the last century, it can only
be made possible over several square
miles by the use of railroads. Mr..
Williams thinks that the point q
greatest density has been reached in
many parts of London, and that il
cannot keep growing at the present
rate much longer, though it will con-
Ftinue to grow. He says
"The rapid growth of London since
IS4I has been very remarkable. The
principal lines of railway which have
their termini in London had at that
time only recently been completed and
in operation; the effect, however, OF
the opening up of a new and rapid
means of communication between the
metropolis and the great manufacturing
districts was clearly perceptible in the
very large increase in the population
which occurred during the next ten
years (IS4I-IS5D, the largest increase
ever yet attained considered as per-
centage. 1t might be safely asserted
that without the agency of steam-power
the London of to-day would be an i'm
possibility, and further that if, owing to
sudden invasion or any unforeseen Gala
nifty, the facilities now afforded by
steam-power for supplying the daily
wants of over 4,ooo,ooo inhabitants
were destroyed, London would be re-
duced to the verge of starvation in a
single week Previous to the introduc-
ton of railway and steam navigation,
the food supplies of London were
mainly derived from the rural districts
in its vicinity now, however, by means
of steam, all this has been changed,
and'ils supplies are drawn from all parts
of the world, If, therefore, according
to Nautilus, the only limit to the in
crease Of population is the sufficiency
of food supply, London, with its enor-
nous wealth and industrial resources,
must long continue to have command
Of the great food markets of the world.
So long as it has this there would ap-
pear to be practically no limit to the
increase of its population" /"
That is to say, the area of London
will continue to grow by annexations,
and those parts which are not SO
densely peopled will continue to fill mp.
In the district of Bromley, for example,
which has increased in population
nearly forty to the acre, or $4,000 to
the square mile since 1871, there may
be further increase; and other dis
tricts may emulate Bromley. But in
other places the same diminution of
population may occur as in the ''city"
or former business center of London.
Indeed, great cities seem to be like
coral reefs alive in one part, dying
in another-even when they are gain
ing fast as whole, like London