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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Battersea.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit for your information my Annual
Report on the sanitary state of the Borough of Battersea for the
year 1929.
I regret that, owing to my long absence through illness, the
Report is much later than usual.
The record of the year's work is on the whole satisfactory.
The decline in the birth-rate, which is a notable feature of the
vital statistics of the Borough and of the country generally, was
maintained in 1929, and, with the exception of the year 1918, has
reached the lowest figure ever recorded in Battersea. The birthrate
is 3.6 per 1,000 of the population lower than in the past 10
years, and the excess of births over deaths, i.e. the natural increase
of population, was only 325.
The general death-rate is markedly higher in 1929 than in the
previous year. This is a general feature of the vital statistics of
London and of the country generally, and is accounted for by the
high death-rate from Influenza and respiratory diseases in the first
quarter of the year.
The infant death-rate is slightly lower than in 1928, notwithstanding
that infant mortality, in common with the general death
rate, was exceedingly heavy in the first quarter of the year, and
that a severe outbreak of whooping-cough occurred, which was
responsible for many deaths of infants under one year of age.
The Maternity and Child Welfare work of the Council was
carried on with unabated activity during the year. A new Centre
and Clinic has been provided to serve the needs of the south-east
area of the Borough, and was opened early in the new year at the
disused Gideon Road School, leased for the purpose from the
London County Council. The Health Visiting Staff has been
increased by an additional officer to meet the extension of the
Council's Scheme.
The development of the ante-natal side of the work has been
a satisfactory feature of the Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme,
and the new building erected as an out-patient annexe to the
Borough Maternity Hospital, by the increased facilities provided
for the attendance and examination of patients, will very greatly
improve the value and efficiency of this important work. The