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8
The density of population, and the poverty of a great number
of the inhabitants in the West Ward, are the only reasons which
occur to me to account for its heavy mortality, beyond its
sanitary defects.
The Hamlet was divided into Wards a year and a half ago,
without regard, of course, to the state of health in any place;
so that, if disease be shown to exist in the West Ward, it can, by
pursuing the same course, be traced to the most offending part
of it. I find upon examination, that some parts of the Ward are
as healthy as any portion of the Hamlet, and that the mortality
is similar to that of its contiguous district in Whitechapel, which
I think has been well looked after for some time by sanitary
officers. I intend to try to turn the information afforded by the
table to practical use. At the present moment I am impressed
with the idea, that besides ordinary causes, the mortality
is exalted through the existence of a greater amount of poverty
and dissipation.

Here, as in all populous districts, the deaths of children
appear to be in undue proportion. The value of life under five