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the rate for London as a whole is 104). The inference is that
both to aged people and to those of tender years the climate of
Harapstead is benign. Many people have sought advice as to the
suitability of Hampstsad for cases of rheumatism, sciatica, lumbago,
etc. My experience is that Hampstead compares favourably with
any other place in the British Isles as regards these diseases, which seem
to be affected mostly by their immediate environment, such as dampness
of houses, or of dryness of the soil and atmosphere. The policy of the
Hampstead Public Health Department for years has been to render all
houses in the neighbourhood as dry as possible, by insisting upon the
concreting of all sites and the damp-coursing of all walls. The height
and the gradients of Hampstead allow of a well-nigh perfect system of
drainage and sewerage. All these have reduced to a remarkable degree
the height of the sub-soil water, in fact to such a great extent has this
drying-out of the land been carried out that within the memory of many
of the inhabitants of the Borough, old streams, such as the Kilbourne on
the west side, the Fleet on the east side, the Chalybeate Spring in
"Well Walk and the Conduit Spring in Fitzjohn's Avenue, have practically
dried out and ceased to flow.
To anyone, therefore, who, by circumstances, is compelled to
veside in London, I cannot do better than advise them to choose
Hampstead for their place of residence.
A very clear and valuable description of the locality has been
prepared under the auspices of the Hampstead Scientific Society, and
published by Fisher Unwin, of Adelphi Terrace, entitled " Hampstead
Heath; " and to those who may wish to go more fully into the Geology
and Natural History of Hampstead, I would recommend the perusal of
this exceedingly interesting volume.
Population.
The Registrar General's provisional estimate of the population of
Hampstead at the middle of 1914, based upon the results of the
Censuses of 1901 and 1911 was 86,731. This estimate has been
adopted in the Report, and it forms the basis upon which the various
rates have been calculated.
The last census showed that in the Adelaide and Priory Wards the
population was decreasing, and this fact, together with the demolitions