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BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK.
Public Health Office,
Town Hall, Walworth Road.
Sir and Gentlemen,
I have the honour of submitting for your consideration my Seventeenth
Annual Report on the vital statistics and general sanitary state of
the Borough for the year 1903.
The most prominent feature of the statistics is the unprecedented
lowness of the death-rate. This singularly happy state is the result of a
combination of favourable circumstances, the whole of which were not
under the control of the Council. The season was decidedly a wet one,
and the temperature more than usually equable. There was as a consequence
much less diarrhæa among infants, and infectious disease
generally. Still the fact remains that for some years past the deaths
have been diminishing in the Borough at the rate of 1 per 1000 of the
inhabitants for each year. I believe this has been due to the increased
care and attention given by the Council and the Public Health staff to
the sanitary needs of the district. The year 1903 has been a period of
continued activity in health matters.
I have to thank the Council for their kindness and support, and the
officers under me for their ready and energetic co-operation.
I have the honour to be,
Your obedient servant,
G. B. MILLSON,
Medical Officer of Health.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Southwark.