View report page

24
earnings above 25s. a week, while about one-sixth only state they
earn less than 20s. a week. While some accommodation is required
for the poor class (charwomen and labourers) at the lowest possible
rental, the majority want and are able to pay rent which may enable
the Council to erect dwellings in this part of the City without
entrenching on the rates.
For those who can live in the suburbs there is need for the
provision of very increased facilities for rapid transit. Parliamentary
Committees dealing with railway and tramway Bills Lave intimated
that they recognise the necessity for such facilities being provided,
and that promoters need not now call evidence on this point.
Births.
3,241 births were registered in the City in the 52 weeks ending
28th December, 1901. On examination of the Registrar's returns
29 births were found to be referable to other districts. Through the
courtesy of the Committees of Management of Endell Street, York
Road, and the Queen Charlotte Lying-in Institutions, and of the
Master of the Strand Workhouse at Edmonton, and the Steward of
St. George's Workhouse, Fulham Road, I have ascertained that in
these Institutions no less than 220 children were born, the home
address of whose mothers was in Westminster. The net number
of births was, therefore, 3,432; the birth-rate, uncorrected, was 17.4,
corrected, 18.5 per thousand persons. The birth-rate for the County
of London for 1901 was 29.0, and was lower than that in any of
the 10 preceding years, during which the birth-rate averaged 30.7
per thousand.
Consequent upon differences in sex and age distribution, and the
proportion of married and unmarried persons in the various Wards
of the City, the rates vary widely, from 7.0 in Charing Cross Ward
to 27.7 in St. John's.
A more exact method of estimating the birth-rate is by
calculating it on the number of females living at child-bearing
ages, distinguishing married and unmarried. That cannot be done
this year on account of the information for the whole year not
being complete with regard to the number of children born who
were illegitimate. I have, however, calculated the birth-rate per
thousand females at all ages for the City and Wards, and for the
Registration Areas per thousand females between the ages of 15
and 45, and the resulting figures are shown on Table XII, compared
with similar figures for all London.