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ground, for account is only taken of those actually registered as
belonging to Camberwell, without taking any account of the population
among which they occur.
There is a decrease of 446 in the total compared with 1914,
which was itself less than 1913 by 91. The lessening is in all the
districts, but especially in St. George's, which exceptionally showed
an increase last year.
BIRTH - RATES OF CAMBERWELL AND ITS SUB-DISTRICTS.
Borough.
South
Camberwell.
North
Camberwell.
South
Peckham.
North
Peckham.
St.
George's
Year.
Dulwich.
24.9
24.1
24.9
25.5
23.4
22.9
30.5
27.7
13.2
11.8
1914
1915
20.4
19.6
28.8
28.0
Owing to the difficulty of arriving even at an approximate
population, the birth-rate both for the Borough and for its subdistricts
rests on no sound estimate, and the figures must only be
regarded as suggestive. They, however, do give some idea of the
reduction going on, a reduction which, considering the great increase
in the number of marriages, is probably due to art and not to nature.
It shows itself alike in the poor districts and in the well-to-do,
North Camberwell alone making a resistance to this downward
trend of numbers. That this retrogression will continue does not
seem likely, and it is to be hoped that next year's report will show
an increase. If one could be certain that there is an improvement
in the viability of infants now born, the question would lose some
of its seriousness, for quality is of much more importance than
quantity. But this, although possible, is not yet capable of
demonstration; therefore, by diminishing the number of births, the
nation does run a serious risk of being swamped by those who are
increasing at a more rapid rate.
There were in all 4,251 entries of deaths forwarded to the
Council by the district registrars, but it is obvious that some of
these do not properly belong to Camberwell. Besides the Lunatic
Asylums, which receive patients from all parts of the country, there
is the Southwark Infirmary, which, at all events for part of the year,
was occupied by persons who were ill when they were removed from
Southwark, to which should be assigned any deaths occurring among
the inmates. Our own people who die in hospitals, &c., outside
the Borough have to be included for the same reason that the
Southwark deaths have to be excluded.
There are also a few included in this category who died in some
one of the public institutions in the Borough, but who had no
previous known address, and, in accordance with the rule of the