View report page

12
Death Rate of Infants under one year of age:—
All infants per 1,000 live births 38
Legitimate infants per 1,000 legitimate live births 27
Illegitimate infants per 1,000 illegitimate live births 136
Deaths from Measles (all ages) Nil.
„ Whooping Cough (all ages) 3
„ Diarrhoea (under 2 years of age) 6
Meteorology.
Through the kindness of E. L. Hawke, Esq., M.A., F.R.A.S.,
F.R.Met.S., the Hon. Meteorologist to the Hampstead Scientific
Society, I am able to submit his report on meteorology in Hampstead
during the year 1933, which is based on records kept at that Society's
Observatory on the top of Hampstead Heath adjoining the White
Stone Pond :—
" The chief characteristics of the weather during 1933 were the
dearth of rain, the excess of sunshine, the persistence of abnormally
high temperature from spring to autumn, and the severe December.
Only 1861 ins. of rain was measured during the year, the fall
being 998 ins., or 35 per cent. short of the annual average for the
period 1910-1929. Continuous records of this climatic element have
been kept on or near the summit of Hampstead Hill since 1863—at
Squire's Mount until 1909, and at the Observatory from 1910 onwards.
The statistics show that four years out of the seventy-one have been
drier than 1933:—1921, with 15.50 ins.; 1898, with 17.17 ins.; 1904,
with 17.65 ins.; and 1893, with 18.55 ins.
Rainfall last year was below normal in every month except
March, May and September. The monthly measurements ranged
from 2.68 ins. in September to 0.39 in. in December. There were, in
all, 154 days on which at least 0.01 in. of precipitation in any form
was registered, this number being 24 in defect of the average. Snow
occurred on 23 days, hail on three, and thunderstorms, or thunder
alone, on 15 (14 of which were in the first half of the year).
September 24th was the wettest day, with 0.75 in. of rain.
The duration of sunshine for the year was 1,735.5 hours, an
amount which exceeds the normal by 245.5 hours. Slightly higher
annual totals have been obtained on three occasions since 1910, when
registration was begun, the maximum being 1,7547 hours in 1911,