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5
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Battersea.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report on the health and
sanitary state of the Borough of Battersea for the year 1921.
The Census which was taken on the 19th June shows that the
population of the Borough is practically stationary. It is clear that
Battersea has reached the limit of its capacity for expansion, there
being no ground left to build on. As a matter of fact, the Borough
might with advantage be less densely populated. In one or two of
the lower Wards, for instance, the density of population is two or
three times as great as that of the more favourably situated districts
of the Borough, and this unsatisfactory distribution of population is
responsible for overcrowding and other sanitary evils, which are
reflected in the vital and morbid statistics of these areas.
It will be noted from an inspection of the vital and morbid
statistics for the year 1921 that the Borough has maintained a high
standard of health. The general death-rate (12.2 per 1,000) is one of
the lowest, if not actually the lowest, on record. In 1910 the deathrate,
calculated on the estimated population given by the RegistrarGeneral
for that year was ll.3 per 1,000, but the Census taken in the
following year (1911) showed the actual population to be some twenty
thousand less than that estimated for the previous year, so that it may
be assumed with reasonable certainty that the death-rates for the years
immediately preceding the Census of 1911 were understated. The
infantile mortality-rate was also lower than in any previous year. The
same gratifying feature characterise the morbid statistics for the year
1921, notwithstanding that there was a greatly increased prevalence of
scarlet fever and diphtheria with a corresponding rise, especially as
regards the last-mentioned disease, in the fatality-rate for these
diseases.
The activities of the Council's Health Department were again
mainly centred round the continued development of their Maternity
and Child Welfare and Housing schemes. With regard to the firstmentioned,
very extensive progress was made in connection with the
Maternity Hospital and its ancillary services. The hospital, containing
30 beds, disposed in two buildings, was officially opened by the
Mayor and Mayoress on the 5th March. During the year the work in
connection with the hospital was further extended by the inauguration
of the district Midwifery service and the opening of the new central
Ante-natal and Special Clinics. In other directions also the Maternity
and Child Welfare scheme was improved and expanded, and now
includes practically all the elements of a comprehensive scheme.
In regard to Housing, the activities of the Council were mainly
directed to the provision of additional housing accommodation so far
as the opportunities at their disposal permitted, and more especially
to the repair of unfit houses. It is to be regretted, however, that no
further progress was made with any of the scheduled insanitary areas,
and it became abundantly evident as the year progressed that there was
little prospect of this most useful and promising feature of the
Council's housing activities being proceeded with, owing, it was
understood, to the present financial embarrassment of the nation
rendering it necessary for the Government to curtail expenditure on
Assisted Housing schemes. Notwithstanding the restricted scope
which the Council's Housing measures had in consequence to assume,
considerable progress was made in regard to the repair of unfit
houses, and much useful work both under the Housing and Public
Health Acts was carried out—details of which will be found in the
section of the Report dealing with Housing.
It is again my privilege to express my acknowledgments to the
Chairmen and Members of the Health, Maternity and Housing Committees,
and to the Members of the Council generally, for their support
and sympathetic consideration. To my colleagues, the Chief Officers
of the Council, and to the staff of the Public Health Department, my
thanks are also due for assistance always willingly rendered.
G. Quin LENNANE, Medical Officer of Health.