View report page

Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey.
Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Fourteenth Annual Report on
the sanitary condition of the Borough of Bermondsey during the
year, 1914. The death-rate was 17·6, compared with 17·98 in
1913 and 16·9 in 1912, which was the only occasion in which it
was lower than the year under report.
The section of the report are, as usual, divided into : —
I. —Vital Statistics.
II.—Notification of Infectious Diseases.
III.- Sanitary Administration.
IV.—Factories and Workshops.
In the Appendix will be found the Local Government Board
Tables, including a special Table on Infantile Mortality.
On the outbreak of war four of the clerical staff, three of the
disinfecting staff and three convenience attendants joined the army
and this has naturally interfered a good deal with the activity of
the department. The posts have been filled temporarily, but
however willing, new hands cannot altogether replace the old ones
and the work has not proceeded quite so smoothly as prior to the
war, but matters are being gradually improved. It has been found
especially difficult to, replace the clerical staff, so that I must ask