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V.

Last year I had to explain the great increase in the
death rate of St. George's, which was due not to an increase in
the mortality of that district but to the fact that owing to the
further division of the districts taking place near the middle of
the year the deaths of the original and consequently greater
area were included in the calculation. At present this condition
no longer exists, and the fall must not be taken as a
great diminution of the death-rate of the district. Dulwich is
almost the same as it was ten years ago when this part was
almost rural, when the birth-rate was much lower, with
the consequently smaller number of persons likely to die, and
when it was occupied by the class of persons usually found to
reside where the death-rate is low.
The difficult question of how to reduce the infantile
mortality has been prominently before the public for the last
year, and many have been the remedies suggested and tried.
I can only repeat what I said last year with regard to this
matter, that a reduction in the number of those who survive is
not so much of importance as the improving of their quality as
regards health; and it is to measures calculated to improve
the health of both mother and child that we shall have to look
for a greater amount of success. Among these come all those
designed to improve the well-being of the former, especially
before and during pregnancy, so as to increase the number of