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(e) The increase in the infantile death rate for the Borough is more than accounted for by
the increase in the number of deaths of illegitimate children.
(f) The domestic servants engaged in Kensington are drawn from all parts and they
probably do not come originally from Kensington homes any more than from
homes in any other parts of London, but the Registrar-General's practice of allocating
the births and deaths of their children to the district in which the employer's address
is situated probably accounts for the increased infantile death rate in South Kensington.
(g) As the increase tor the year is due to an increase of the number of deaths in the first
few days of life, housing conditions cannot be held responsible, nor can it be said
that there is any defect in the system of Infant Welfare Consultations. The improvement
in the rate for North Kensington and the decrease in the death rate for the
latter period of the first year of life, should encourage the Council and voluntary
workers to continue their existing programmes.
(h) An effort should be made to increase the number of women attending the
natal clinics in the Borough, not only with a view to making their confinement safe,
but to prevent the deaths of children from premature birth and conditions associated
therewith.
DEATHS OF INFANTS UNDER ONE YEAR OF AGE IN DIFFERENT TYPES
OF HOUSES.
In previous years it has been customary to give a table showing how the infantile death rate
from all diseases and also from pneumonia, bronchitis and enteritis varies in accordance with the
type of house occupied; for this purpose houses have been divided into three classes, namely:—
(a) private houses occupied by one family, or converted into self-contained flats or
maisonettes,
(b) tenement houses which have been let in lodgings to more than one family without
having been specially adapted for the purpose, and
(c) mews dwellings.
The table has been prepared this year as usual, but as there are few particulars of interest to
be gathered, it has not been thought necessary to include it in this report. It shows generally a
higher death rate in mews dwellings than in private houses and a still higher rate in tenement
houses; but before any conclusions are arrived at as to the effect of housing conditions upon the
infantile death rate, consideration must be given to the fact that negligent, careless, and povertystricken
parents generally drift into the worst types of tenement house and mews dwelling.
Of the 22 deaths from enteritis or summer diarrhoea, 19 occurred in tenement houses.
In preparing the table, it has been interesting to note that during the year there was not one
death from enteritis amongst the 117 children bom in mews dwellings. This is the fourth year in
succession in which there has not been an infant death from such a cause in South Kensington
mews dwellings ; there are very few horses kept in that part of the Borough with the result that
there is practically no storage of manure on which flies can breed, and this is probably the main
reason for the absence of enteritis deaths in mews dwellings in the southern half of the Borough.
It is most encouraging to note that for the second year in succession there were no infant deaths
from enteritis in North Kensington mews dwellings. The Council's policy in recent years of securing
a three-weekly removal of manure and their insistence on a higher state of cleanliness in mewsways
must have contributed in a marked measure to this satisfactory result.