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38
It will be noticed that more than half the persons
notified were between the age of 25 and 45 years, the period
of life at which the greatest responsibility is incurred.
The notifications for the year amounted to 344, but it is
estimated that between 800 and 1,000 persons in the Borough
are suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, and it is probable
that only about 20 per cent., or 25 per cent. at the most, are
entitled to benefits under the National Insurance Act.
The deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis in 1912
amounted to 112, which is equivalent to a death rate of 0.68
per 1,000 persons living. With the exception of Hampstead,
this rate is the lowest of all the Metropolitan Boroughs.
Administrative Measures in Relation to Tuberculosis.
In October last I had the honour of presenting the
following report to a Joint Committee of the Public Health
and General Purposes Committees, which was adopted by your
Council at their meeting on October 23rd, 1912:—
We move slowly, and although so much has been done
by voluntary agencies in the curative treatment of tuberculosis,
we have sadly neglected the more rational and economical
method of instituting measures for the prevention of the
disease, and the suffering, misery, and economic waste which
follows in its train. Much has been done to improve the
environment of the people, and vast sums have been spent in
better housing. That these measures have been successful in
a degree is Shown by the decreased mortality from tuberculosis
during the past decade. Nevertheless, the disease still
exists to an appalling extent.
All previous efforts and schemes have been more or less
piecemeal, and have been handicapped by their dependence to
a large extent upon voluntary agencies.
Most of the efforts in the past have been directed to
actual sufferers, and no co-ordinated or exhaustive scheme has
been directed to the work of prevention. This is due possibly