CHAPTER XX
LONDON
The City
The London County Council
Finance
Education
Public Assistance
Housing, Health and Safety
Development
General Problems
The Metropolitan Boroughs
Ad hoc Authorities
In the early Middle Ages, London held pre-eminence among
English cities because of its nearness to the larger civilisadon of
Europe. Those Kings of England who had great interests in
France found it a convenient capital; the presence of the Court
provided a market. The fact that London was a port, which has
at all times been of first importance, gained fresh significance
when the discoveries of the sixteenth century made Western
Europe the centre rather than the edge of the world. While the
Industrial Revolution increased the importance of the North of
England, it also swelled the number of artisans in London; and
the development of a world economy added yet again to London's
importance as a centre of trade and finance. To-day there is still
the old "City" keeping its boundaries, street names, and forms
of Government much as they were centuries ago, but crowded
with banks, with insurance, shipping and trading companies,
and financial houses, so that the words "the City" denote not
so much a place as an economic institution. Round this City
have grown the dwellings of millions, rich and poor, who get
their livings ftom the town's commerce and industry, or by
•ministering to the wants of their fellow citizens; systematic
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