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9
In the Metropolis 132,432 births were registered,
giving a rate of 29.5 (the lowest on record), as compared
with a decennial mean rate of 30.97. In
England and Wales the births numbered 922,873,
and the rate was 29.4, as compared with a decennial
mean of 30.46.
The birth rate for the Parish (23.2) was 6.7 below
that for the Metropolis, (29.5), and 6.2 below that
for England and Wales (29.4).
Of the 2,965 births registered in the Parish 121
were illegitimate. The legitimate birth-rate was
22.27, or 1.02 below the decennial mean (legitimate)
rate, and the illegitimate 0.95, 0.17 below I,he
decennial mean. (See Table 4.) Foi every 100
legitimate births there were 4.25 illegitimate,
the decennial average being 3.68. With the exception
of 1894, when the proportion was 5.22, this is
the highest ratio since 1892.
VACCINATION.
The figures given in Table 5 indicate an increasing
neglect of this most valuable precaution, the percentage
remaining unaccounted-for rising from 9.0 per
cent, in 1896 to 10.0 in 1897. In the latter year the
"unaccounted for"included six certificates of
"conscientious objection." In the first half of 1898,
the latest period for which returns have been made
up, the percentage of unaccounted-for children