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TO THE VESTRY OF ST. MARY, NEWINGTON.
Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit to you my Annual Report for
the year 1899. The various tables to be found in the report are,
I believe, sufficiently clear to enable a comparison being readily
made between London as a whole and Newington, and between the
various parts of the parish on all important health matters. As
year by year more improved methods of sanitation are adopted, and
the organization of the department becomes more determined, so is
it more difficult for me to refer in the report to anything fresh or
novel. The work of the year compares favourably with what has
been done in the past. The health of the parish, apart from an
increased incidence of Diphtheria in children, and of Enteric Fever
among adults in the Autumn, has been as good as usual. The
year's history, although so often told, can never be uninteresting
with such a parish as ours where the wear and tear of life is
immense. It is amusing to hear celebrated Divines and other
important personages unburden themselves on the apathy and dullness
of the good people of Walworth. We may not be a fashionable
folk, if that is what is meant, but that the people lack freshness
and vigour, in a word, vitality, is distinctly untrue. Life is
not dull in Newington, nor is the parish, as described, one
monotonous area of squalid houses. It is a pity such remarks are
made amongst strangers, who believe them, because no one with a
knowledge of the district is there to refute them. I have to thank
the Vestry for their courtesy and support, and the various members
of the staff for the work that has been done.
GEORGE MILLSON,
Medical Officer of Health.
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