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Camberwell
CAM 13
advance proof.
Report of the medical Officer of health.
To The Worshipful the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Camberwell.
Gentlemen,
The population of London as used by the Registrar-General for
the estimation of the birth, marriage, and death rates is estimated to
be 4,795,757 in the middle of the year 1908, the previous calculation
being 4,758,218.
The actual number of births registered in the county totalled
122,898, being an excess of 693 on 1907, but as the year was
reckoned as consisting of 53 weeks, it is obvious that the registration
really showed a decrease in the second period. The birth-rate,
which is calculated on an increased population, shows consequently
a considerable decline.
The number of deaths registered in London was 68,239, but
these figures must be revised by the exclusion of the deaths of those
who, although dying within the county boundary, could not be
considered as Londoners. Further, the deaths of those inhabitants
who live within the boundary, but who happened to die in institutions
outside, must be included. The net result of the calculation
gives 67,353 deaths to be reckoned with in the estimation of the
death-rate. In 1907 the net deaths for this year, of 52 weeks only,
reached 70,013, so that the reduction in the actual figures is really
substantial. The death-rate of 13.8 shows a reduction of 0.8 on the
previous year, and is 1.4 below the average rate for the five years
1903-7.
The actual decrease in the number of deaths distinctly marks
an improvement, but the apparently great reduction in the deathrate
must be received with some little reserve.
The Registrar-General, in making his calculation, assumes that
the rate of increase which prevailed during the last intercensal
period has been maintained; but he points out that the period
under review being far removed from the census enumeration, the
results must be accepted with great caution, and, further, that any
method of estimating the population would be equally untrustworthy.
Personally, I am not inclined to agree that our method is equally
unreliable, for I believe that in Camberwell, at all events, the
estimation by the assessment method will be found to be nearer the
actual figures to be enumerated in 1911 than those which will be
obtained by the estimate calculated on the continuance of the
intercensal rate of increase.