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6
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Haverstock Hill,
Hampstead, N.W.3.
25th May, 1933.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my first annual report upon the state
of the public health in the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead, which
is for the year 1932, and is the thirty-second of the series.
My predecessor, F. E. Scrase, Esq., F.R.C.S. (Eng.), D.P.H.,
retired on the 15th September, 1932, after completing more than 20
years in your service. The efficiency with which he performed the
important duties of Medical Officer of Health has already been manifested
in the tokens of esteem witnessed in the Council Chamber, and
particularly also in the high regard and affection in which he is held
by his medical colleagues practising in the Borough.
The Annual Report for the year 1925 was a Survey Report and
the next Survey Report should normally have been made in respect
of the year 1930. The Minister of Health, however, considers " the
time is not ripe to require Medical Officers of Health to prepare a
record of progress covering a period of years." Accordingly, therefore,
he has instructed that the Annual Report for 1932 shall be in
the nature of an Ordinary Report.
The Death Rate in Hampstead for 1932 was 11.6 per 1000 population
as compared with 12.0 for England and Wales. The Birth
Rate of 10.9 per 1000 population is lower than that for any year
since 1926, and compares with a rate of 15.3 for England and Wales.
The low birth rate is a matter of national concern, but it is to a great
extent compensated by the decreased Infantile Mortality Rate which
figure in Hampstead in 1932 was 54 per 1000 births as against 65 for
England and Wales.
The incidence of Infectious disease during 1932 was again low
and occasioned no concern apart from a mild outbreak of Measles
(which is compulsorily notifiable in Hampstead) in April, May and