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16
the employed persons who use them. Smoking, and cigarette
smoking in particular, has been known to be a factor in the
causation of cancer of the lung for some years but many people
still seem to be unconvinced. The position is that a comparatively
small proportion of the population will get a cancer of
the lung whatever their habits are, a much larger proportion
will not get cancer of the lung however intemperate their
smoking habits may be, and in between these two groups there is
a third group who will only get a cancer of the lung if they
irritate their lungs sufficiently with tobacco smoke.
The difficulty arises in that it is impossible to
discover to which group any person belongs - until it is too
late. It is however somewhat inconsistent that so much should
be done to prevent the 500 or so deaths from poliomyelitis
throughout the country, and so little done to prevent the
20,000 deaths from cancer of the respiratory tract.
Suicides in Hampstead have again remained at a high
level (27) the number being above that for the previous two
years but less than the figure for 1955°
The number of deaths from road accidents (10) was the
same as for 1957 but deaths from all other accidents rose from
11 in 1957 to 24 in 1958.
During 1958 there were 30 deaths of children under
one year of age and of these 24 died within the first four weeks
of life - the majority on the first day. The infant mortality
rate of 20.1 per 1,000 live births is satisfactory although it
is slightly higher than the rate for 1957.
INSPECTION OF THE BOROUGH
The statistical summary of the work of the Public
Health Inspectors which is given towards the end of the Report
is set out In somewhat greater detail than in previous reports.
The methods used in the keeping of records were modified
following the report of the Organisation and Methods team which
Investigated the working of the Public Health Department and a
punch card system was started which would enable a much more
detailed analysis of the records at a later date and this was
combined with improvements in the filing system which allows
all the information concerning any particular property to be
immediately available in a single folder.
It was found, however, that the punch card system caused
delays in that the card could not be completed until the