The San Francisco call., 1910-01-10
SHOWING
LONDON'S VASTNESS
Interesting Facts About EnOr-
nous Requirements of Mod
ern BabyIon's Inhabitants

London statistics relating to the year
pages just published by the L. C. c.
In the section dealing with the machin-
cry of public administration, it is stated
that 4,S39 members constitute the IA
local governing authorities of the ed
ministrative county, says the London
Globe. The parliamentary electorate
numbers 664,294, and the county cleo
torate SI4.422. The percentage who
voted in the last county council were
only 55.5 Cas compared with 45.7 in
1900, whereas in Paris last year the
percentage was 1874.
Meteorological statistics for 1907 show
that London compares very favorably
with large provincial towns. There
were l.349 hours of sunshine in the
metropolis, whereas Birmingham had
only 1,1o5 hours and Manchester Ss4
hours Sheffield. however, enjoyed 1,42S
hours sunshine.
Changes in rates of wages are noted
in another section. In only one trade
-coopers-was there decrease; while
increases going as high as IS Sd a week
are recorded in nearly so trades. Com
parison with Paris and Berlin shows
that in nearly every case wages were
higher and hours of labor shorter in
London.
MEANS OF LOCOMOTION
One of the most interesting sections
is that relating to highways and loco
motion in the metropolis. There are
2,l51 miles of streets in London (of
which 127 miles are laid with tram
ways), and they cost $3.50 a mile to
maintain and repair, and f1S7 a mile
to light. Street improvements com
pleted in 19o7-s or still in progress
cover about 13 miles, and the gross
cost viii be fe,065,031, the net cost,
however, being estimated at only
e3, 465,362. Locomotion statistics show
that exclusive of passengers with
workmen's tickets 7,604,715 people
travelled to London by railway from
suburban stations in the month of Oc-
tober, 1907.
To this figure must be added 213S.954
passengers using workmen's tickets.
On an ordinary week day in Decem-
Der, 1908, there were 1886 trains run
INFO the London termini. In 1907 the l..
G. c. trans carried 372,515,754 passen-
gers, and the cars ran total distance
o. 35,561,1S9 miles. Omnibuses Ii
c.nsed by the Metropolitan police IN
1908 numbered 3.2SS-tthe smallest num-
Der in the last ten years.. the percent
age of motor Omnibuses to the total
being 34.5. The London General omni-
bus company carried in the year end
ed June, 1908. total Of 1884 0a0
passengers. There are 122 omnibus
routes in London, covering distano =
of 700 miles.
SUPPLIES FROM ABROAD
statistics relating to the port o.
London show tnat 1856 vessels (o~
I6.l per cent Of the total number fp
the United Kingdomi are registered a.
the port of London. In 1908 vessels
with total tonnage of 79,544,4S6 en-
tered the London docks There are
some startling items in the list of ar
ticles imported. No fewer than 40.-
OO0. 600 canes and sticks. valued a
El12.3le, came into London in 1907.
Matches numbered 100000 gross boxes
and $4,000, 900 furs of all sorts in ad-
dition to more than 100000 skins,
were brought TO the port Food sup
plies included 100000 hundredwefght
of fresh mutton. 1000. 900 hundred
weight of beef, 100000 hundredwefght
of condensed milk, $4,000, 900 pounds of
pepper, 100000 hundredweight of
sugar, 100000 gallons of rum, 310,-
0o0. 900 pounds of tea, 1,250,000 dozen
bottles of mineral waters, nearly
1000 900 cases of oranges, 1,00O,0 900
punches of bananas and 100000 gal
Ions of pickles. Altogether the value
of London's imports in 1907 was $780,
e72. $50, as against f1s9 407,311 in 1906.
During 1907-S an average of 219,046.-
600 gallons of water daily was supplied
in the metropolis, more than half of it
being drawn from the Thames. The
gas companies in the metropolis sold
4s.00O,000 thousand cubic feet of gas,
and 1S5.el5.474 units of electricity were
sold in 1907.