View report page

39
Death-rate.—Calculating the death-rate on the assumption
that the population has increased at the same
rate as it did during the ten years ending 1871—which
would give a population of 33,856 souls—and deducting
the Infirmary population and its deaths, the death-rate is
20.2 per 1000, which is 3 per 1000 below that of London.
It is, however, an increase of 3 per 1000 on the previous
year, the causes of which will be noticed when treating
of the various diseases.
Birth-rate.—The births registered were 1371-700
males and 671 females—the birth-rate, calculated in the
same manner as the deaths, was 40.4 per 1000, and the
natural increase to population would be 514, after including
all deaths in the Infirmary, This birth-rate of 40.4 per
1000 is very high, being 5 per 1000 above that of London—
and points to one fact, namely, that our population must
be greater than the foregoing calculation, for I do not
suppose that more infants are born to a given number' of
West Battersea people than those of London and England
generally. It is a melancholy fact to relate that 75 of
these births, 5.4 per cent., were illegitimate, and that the
number of children dying without fathers during the same
period were 52, so that we may infer that out of 75
illegitimate children born in the year, no less than 52
perished, a most alarming death-rate; various are the
causes at work which produce this fearful mortality, but
having in former Reports brought the matter of infant
mortality before your notice, it will not be necessary for
me to repeat it here.
The following Table shows the causes of all deaths,
classified at different ages, sex, and social position, which
have taken place in this Sub-district during the year
1875.—