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5
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Battersea.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report on the Health
and Sanitary state of the Borough for the year 1930.
I regret that owing to my long illness the Report is very
much overdue.
Owing to the growth of the various Departments in recent
years, the accommodation at the Town Hall has been greatly
congested, and it was decided by the Council to remove the Public
Health to more commodious premises at Electric House, Lavender
Hill. The department took up its new quarters in April, 1930.
It is satisfactory to be able to record that the vital and morbid
statistics for the year under report are satisfactory, and that the
temporary increase in the death rates, General and Infantile, due
to the prevalence of Influenza and Respiratory diseases in the
early part of 1929, is not apparent in the figures for 1930, showing
that the steady progress of recent years is being well maintained.
The birth-rate remains stationary in Battersea, but the downward
tendency in this direction continues to be a disturbing factor
in the view of those who, like myself, regard a high birth-rate to
be a useful index of the virility and progress of a nation.
The general death-rate (11.5) is a satisfactory feature of the
year's statistics, and the same may be said of the infant mortality
rate (54.7). These figures may be regarded as being all the more
satisfactory when the economic condition existing and the consequent
regrettable extent of unemployment are taken into account.
The prevalence of dangerous epidemic disease has not been,
it is satisfactory to record, a marked feature of the year's morbid
statistics. A very few cases of the mild form of Small-pox, which
has been very prevalent in other parts of London and Greater
London during the past few years, have occurred, the source of
which has been traceable to infection from outside Battersea.
The Maternity and Child Welfare work of the Council has
proceeded with undiminished activity during the year and a new
Centre has been opened at Gideon Road School, the London County
Council having leased to the Borough Council for the purpose, a
part of the disused School buildings. This is a very desirable
addition to the scheme, as the South East Area of the Borough was