View report page

(4)
METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF FULHAM
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
FULHAM, S.W.6.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF FULHAM.
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the Annual Report on the health of
the Borough for the year 1950.
On lst November, 1950 I took over the duties of Medical Officer
of Health owing to the retirement through ill-health of my predecessor
Dr. Percy L.T. Bennett, M.C., whose retirement is deeply regretted by all
who knew and worked with him, and who will long be remembered in the
Borough for his wise and ready help and his unfailing kindness.
Dr. Bennett's detailed knowledge of housing, building
construction and practical experience in engineering, as well as his
special knowledge of all forms of tuberculosis and infectious diseases,
will continue to be reflected in improved standards of health and lowering
of death rates in the Borough for a considerable time to come. I wish to
record my personal tribute of thanks to Dr. Bennett for the sound help
and willing assistance I always received from him whilst I was his Deputy
and until his retirement.
On the instructions of the Ministry of Health this report is
again presented in an abridged form. The Registrar General's estimate
gives the mid-year population of the Borough as 123,400, a decrease of
640 on the figure for the preceeding year.
The Birth Rate of 14.35 per 1,000 is somewhat lower than the
figure for 1949 (16.48 per 1,000), and the Infantile Mortality Rate of
25 per 1,000 continues to decrease on the figure for 1949 (26.4), and is
again the lowest ever recorded in the Borough being lower than that of
London (26.3) and England & Wales (29.8). The Maternal Mortality Rate
is 1.7 per 1,000 births (live and still).