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14
rate for London as a whole for 1925 was 67 and for
England and Wales as a whole 75. It is unsatisfac
tory to note that whereas for the last two years our
rate has been exactly 3 per thousand above that for
London as a whole this year it is 7 per thousand above
the average for London. If, however, we take the
rate for the 105 County Boroughs and Great Towns
in England we find their average rate is 79 per thousand,
3 per thousand above that for Fulham.
The figure for Fulham does not, however, compare
favourably with the other Metropolitan Boroughs;
in fact out of the 29 Metropolitan Boroughs, including
the City of London, Fulham stands 24th. The only
Boroughs with larger infantile mortality rates being
Southwark 77, Bermondsey 78, Kensington 78, Bethnal
Green 80 and Shoreditch 88. Everything possible
must be done to improve this state of affairs. When
one sees working-class Boroughs such as I.ewisham
and Woolwich with rates of 55 each it is a clear indication
that further work is necessary in Fulham.
All our measures must be pushed on with the greatest
energy.
The causes of deaths of infants during 1925 are
set out in Table III, and classified according to ward
and age. Again the largest cause of death is premature
birth. During 1925, 46 deaths were ascribed
to this cause as compared with 50 during 1924. One
is encouraged to hope that a considerable amount of
this mortality from premature birth may be prevented
when we are able to get a larger proportion of our
mothers to attend the Ante-Natal Clinics or their
medical attendant more regularly during the antenatal
period. The other principal causes of infantile
mortality during the year were pneumonia 33 deaths
as compared with 43 during 1924 ; diarrhoea and
enteritis 36 as compared with 18 during 1924 ; whooping
cough 18 as compared with 4 during 1924 ; bronchitis
12 deaths as compared with 11 during 1924;
atrophy and debility, however, has fallen from 12 in
1924 to 9 in 1925.