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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan
Borough of Lewisham.
Gentlemen,
I beg to submit to you my Annual Report on the Vital
Statistics and Sanitary Condition of the Borough for the year 1902.
An examination of the statistical figures contained herein
shows that the health of the district is highly satisfactory.
The corrected death rate from all causes amounted to 13.7 per
1,000, a slight increase over that for the preceding year (13.0
per 1,000), due partly to the fact that the death rate for 1902 is
calculated upon the number of deaths registered in 53
instead of 52 weeks.
Compared with other Metropolitan Boroughs, Lewisham
enjoys, as in previous years, one of the lowest death rates in
London. (See Tables 9 and 10.)
The death rates from all causes and from Zymotic
Diseases and Phthisis and the Infantile Mortality compare most
favourably with other London Boroughs and the principal towns
of England.
The year under review has been an anxious one owing to
the prevalence of Small Pox in London, and the eases which
occurred in the Borough. The inhabitants of the Borough were
exposed to special risks owing to the large number of workmen
resident in Lewisham who were exposed to infection during their
employment at the Small Pox Hospitals. It is a matter for
congratulation that we were able to control the threatened outbreak.
Compared with other London Boroughs, Lewisham
escaped with 84 cases, equal to an attack rate of 063 per 1,000,
nearly the lowest in London. (See Table 9.)
The occurrence of Small Pox in the district from
September, 1901, to September, 1902, entailed a vast amount of
work, and I cannot speak too highly of the willing co-operation
of the Sanitary Inspectors, who throughout the whole period