The population of Reading in 1881 was 42,050, against 25,000 in 1861, showing ail increase of 17,050 in twenty years. The death-rate for six months in 1881 was as low as 12 per cent; and the town is drained, paved, and lighted with all the latest improvements (electric light excepted). It has a sewage farm of its own, and a full corporate body, for whom spacious municipal buildings are erected adjoining the Towhall.
Source: The Illustrated London News, July 8, 1882, p.45