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Midwives:
Buckhurst Hill: Miss R. Bartter, S.C.M., R.S.I.
Chigwell: Miss F. E. Guise, S.C.M.
Loughton: Miss G. H. Quill, S.C.M.
Assistant for Buckhurst Hill and Loughton: Miss G. Jones,
S.R.N., S.C.M.
Section A.
STATISTICS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF THE AREA.
Area (in acres) 8,970 (14 sq. miles approx.).
Population (at 30th June, 1938,
Reg. Gen. figures.) 23,750.
Number of inhabited houses 7,141.
Number of separate families or separate occupiers, not available.
Rateable Value £220,602 os. od.
Sum represented by a Penny Rate £850 os. od.
The District comprises roughly 5½ miles of the basin of the River
Roding together with the hills on each side of the valley. There are
no factories of any size in the district. A large part of the area still
consists of farm and forest land but as each year goes by the area of
farm land gets smaller and smaller as development of the district
proceeds. There is good residential property on the hills, but building
here is slow. The establishment of a Balloon Station of the Royal Air
Force and the building of two large Schools for the Essex County
Council have taken place during the year.
The population has increased by 1,140 during the year. Last
year the increase was 1,730. This again, as last year, is almost entirely
due to the occupation of new property.
The rateable value has increased by over £13,000, as against
£15,000 in 1937.
The sum obtained from a Penny Rate has also increased by £71.
The rate in the pound for 1938/39 was n/8d.
The soil is clay with pockets of gravel on the higher ground
as a rule.
There is a large "dormitory" population in the district owing to
its proximity to London and practically the whole of the middle and a
large proportion of the working classes earn their living in the metropolis.
Local occupations are farming, gardening, railway and transport employment
and the usual trades.