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TO HIS WORSHIP THE MAYOR, THE ALDERMEN, AND COUNCILLORS OF THE
BOROUGH OF PADDINGTON.
Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit to you my Report on the health of the Borough
and the work of your Public Health Department during the past year, this being the
thirteenth Report submitted by me.
The interval which has elapsed since the last census (1901) makes the estimate of the
population a very uncertain quantity, and I am of opinion that the figure given in the report
is too low. I have come to that conclusion from a consideration of the difference (2,153)
between the estimated and natural increments during the five and a quarter years which had
been completed at the middle of last year, and from the changes which are taking place in
the manner of housing of the general population. The erection of blocks of flats, and the
conversion of dwellings, originally constructed for occupation by single families, into flats,
is leading to an increase in the density of population. At the last census this Borough was
one of the most densely inhabited districts in the Western Division of the Metropolis, a fact
which should be borne in mind when considering the vital statistics.
There are no signs of any slackening in the rate of decrease in the reproductivitv of
the nation. Last year's birth-rate for England and Wales was the lowest on record, and the
same has to be said of the Metropolitan and Borough rates. The following points from
the Registrar-General's Annual Summary for 1906 will help to explain some of the causes
operative in the production of the fall in the rate.
In 1870-72 the marriage-rate in the Metropolis, calculated on the unmarried and widowed
population aged 15 years and upwards, was 60.9 per 1,000. In 1900-02 that rate was 50.3, and,
in 1904-06, 48.0 The rates for the second and third periods were 17 and 21 per cent, respectively
below that for the first.
The age of women at marriage is an important factor in this connection, but information on
that point is not immediately available. Some idea of the altered age at marriage can be obtained
from the census returns. The percentage of females aged 15-45 years returned as married was
47.6 in 1871, and had fallen to 44.8 in 1901—a decline of 6 per cent.

In 1870-72 the birth-rate per 1,000 persons was 35.2; in 1900-02, 28.9; and in 1904-06, 27.2—
equal to decreases of 18 and 23 per cent. respectively. The legitimate birth-rate, calculated per
1,000 married women aged 15-45 years, was 269.9 in 1870-72, 227.8 in 1900-02, and 213.4 in
1904-06—shrinkages amounting to 16 and 21 per cent. The illegitimate rate, calculated on the
unmarried and widowed females of the same ages, fell from 10.3 in the first period to 6.9 in the
second and third, or by 23 per cent.