View report page

7
To the Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors of the Metropolitan
Borough of Lewisham.
Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit to you my Fifteenth
Annual Report on the vital statistics and the sanitary condition
of the Borough, together with particular returns required by the
Local Government Board and Home Office, for the year ending
December 31st, 1915.
The frequent changes in the temporary staff has caused some
difficulty in its preparation, responsible for delay.
From the statistical returns it will be seen that Lewisham
still remains one of the healthiest of the London Boroughs.
The death rate recorded for the year was 12.86 per thousand
persons living at all ages, compared with 10.9 in 1914. The
increase over the rate in the previous year, is more apparent
than real and occurs throughout London by reason of the calculation
being made upon the estimated civil population, which
estimated figure I think is lower than the actual number
residing within the Borough.
Notwithstanding this fact, the death rate of 12.86 is the
lowest in London except Hampstead, which is 12.3 per thousand.
It bears satisfactory comparison with the death rate 16.8, the
recorded figure for the County of London.
The birth rate again shows a slight fall, being 19.3 per
thousand, compared with 19.5 in 1914 and 20.3 in 1913.
It is satisfactory to note the low infant mortality rate recorded
in the Borough, namely 79 per thousand births, the
lowest recorded in London except Hampstead, which has a rate
of 78 per thousand births. The rate for the County of London
was 112. The recorded death rate from Phthisis is again the