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44
Causes of sickness or invalidity specially noteworthy:
occupational or environmental conditions which
have a prejudicial effect on health.
There are no occupational diseases peculiar to the borough. Under
"Housing" the relationship of environment to disease will be
discussed, whilst special articles on Measles and Diphtheria, especially
the last mentioned, will be found in the course of the report. Enquiry
has been made into the occupations of rag dealers, but no association
with disease has been defined. A number of people collect rags, and
these are taken to Messrs. Dandridge in Creek Street. Eventually the
material finds its way to paper and shoddy makers.
I feel driven to state that the special causes of sickness and
invalidity in one or two parts of Deptford are those resulting from
miserable environment, principally in the East-end, and I would draw
attention in this connection 'to my remarks under "Housing." It is
a pity slow headway has been made respecting the clearance of slum
areas, concerning which your Medical Officer or his predecessors have
made "Representations." The East-end of Deptford was condemned
years ago and it is still there. In my report for 1922 I said:—
"The East Ward contains many who are living grey lives
indeed. In his 'Children of the Dead End' Patrick Macgill
told us of the lives of the navvies at Kinlochleven, a sordid story
of hard, physical toil, of drink, gambling and fighting, of men who,
some of them, knew little or nothing of God. I am not suggesting
that these conditions are comparable with our Giffin Street area,
but there is an echo. East of High Street we have hawkers, men
who live off the barrow, who sell wood, roast chestnuts, anything
and everything . . . . How can you expect to raise folks living
under conditions of overcrowding and despair and in cheerless
surroundings? Unemployment, poverty and despair knock the
heart out of many."
I have little to add to the above in this survey report. Every
week I go to Hales Street and discuss Infant Welfare, Housing and
what not with over forty mothers. Look at the death rate and infant
mortality rate for our East-end. Of course, the gross infant mortality
rate for the whole borough is excellent, but the East-end rate is
relatively bad. I know all about those views that if you put some
people into a palace it would be dirty in a year. One is not asking for