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4 Parish of Saint George the Martyr, Southwark.
The fourth Table contains the mortality in districts: here also are recorded the particulars
of'2831 cases of illness; 1637 of them among the poor attended by the Parish surgeons;
1071 at the Royal South London Dispensary, and 123 in other Institutions, the Medical Officers
of which have been so obliging as to favor me with returns — I have especially to thank
Mr. Hentsch of the Dispensary for regular weekly returns : as a contrast with our poorer districts
you will perceive that none of these Institutions show any serious illness, although it surrounds
them almost to the very gates; chiefly among the poor, where bad sanitary arrangements and
bad habits prevail: this shows, if anything can, how much of our sickness is in the power of man
to mitigate or prevent: of course it cannot be expected that we can provide the homes of the'
poor with the orderly arrangements and benefits of these Institutions; that however will form no
excuse here or hereafter, for not carrying out the improvements we can easily achieve, and which a
wise legislature has given us full authority to do.
The fifth Table refers to the poor, and shows the progress of sickness among them week by
week : 3101 persons have been relieved as casuals for the quarter ending Midsummer, and 2805 the
quarter ending Michaelmas: this is as usual given as an evidence of a larger influx of poor to
this parish, than can by any means be considered as belonging to it, and which influx if considered
in all its bearings leads to cost, to overcrowding, and by consequence to ill health, necessarily to
overcrowding, for the demand for houses of the poorest class far exceeds the supply.
The sixth Table, gives as usual particulars of every death during the quarter, the increase
on the corresponding one is shown to be 93, of which 55 is from two diseases alone, measles and
scarlatina. An unusually heavy mortality is shown among the young—249 out of369—2 out of every
3—this state of things is held to be a good measure of the good or bad condition of a locality, as
the young are more constantly exposed to the prevailing influences. The experience of the last 7
quarters shows that of 3395 born in this parish, 1'273, considerably more than one-third do not reach
20 years of age. Of births 417 are recorded, 217 have been vaccinated by the officers appointed,
163 only have been returned to the registrars as successfully vaccinated. The slaughter houses,
34 in number have as usual been visited this quarter, 2 only did not obtain their licenses:
The seventh Table records the sanitary work.
The Water supply for each month is as follows, the impurities are stated in grains
per gallon:
Lambeth Company. Southwark Company.
TOTAL ORGANIC TOTAL ORGANIC
IMPURITY. DITTO. IMPURITY. DITTO.
July.—19.20 2.00 17 .12 2.12
Aug.—17.40 1.08 16.00 1.96
Sept.—18.64 192 16.92 1.36
Average 18.41 1.66 16.68 1.81
The Southwark Company that supplied the worse water, now supplies rather the better,
they have however a slight excess of organic matter.
(Signed) WILLIAM RENDLE.