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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan
Borough of Lewisham.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit herewith my Twenty-sixth
Annual Report on the Vital Statistics and Sanitary Condition
of the Borough for the year ended 31st December, 1926.
Vital Statistics.—The statistical figures contained in this
Report are calculated upon the estimated population supplied by
the Registrar-General, amounting to 187,800.
Death-rate.—The total number of deaths occurring among
residents amounted to 1,890, equivalent to a death-rate of 10.0
per thousand of the population, the lowest recorded death-rate in
London. In Table 3 the causes of death are set out in detail,
showing that out of the total number of 1,890 deaths, 246 were
attributed to Cancer, 204 to diseases of the Heart, 159 to
Pneumonia in all its forms, and 135 to Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
The infant mortality rate of 40 per thousand births constitutes
a new record, being the lowest ever recorded in Lewisham, and
also the lowest in all the Metropolitan Boroughs.
It is gratifying to note that the work carried out by your
Council in relation to Child Welfare has had a steady beneficial
effect during the last 25 years. This is very graphically shown
in the chart enclosed in the Report, from which you will sec
that the infant mortality rate has fallen from 128 per thousand
births in 1901 to 40 in 1926.
Infectious Disease:-During the year 478 cases of Scarlet
Fever were notified, compared with 383 cases in 1925. Of the
total, 413 were removed to Hospital. The disease was of an
exceedingly mild type, only two cases of the total proving fatal.