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It must, however, be kept in mind that during the last four years the
climatic conditions have again been favourable to infant life, and
resemble those existing in 1881-90, but in that decade the infant death
rate only fell to 152 per 1,000.
The marked improvement which has taken place is due to the
methods which have been introduced in recent years, whereby instruction
is given to mothers in the way to bring up children, by ladies specially
qualified for the work. The system was begun in Westminster in 1903.
The average death rate for the districts which eventually formed the
City was 158 for the ten years 1891-1900, varying in the component
districts from 132 in St. George's to 176 in St. Margaret and St. John,
and in the Strand. The average of the last nine years (1901-9) for
the City is 110, and the rate has fallen in the year 1910 to 82 per
1,000 births.
In the beginning of 1909 the Notification of Births Act came into
force, the Local Government Board having sanctioned the suggested
arrangement that the Hon. Secretary of the Health Society, Miss M.
Horn, should be appointed the Council's Honorary Health Visitor.
The Council provided an office at the St. George's Baths, Buckingham
Palace Road, and the Society has thus become a special centre
for health in the district. Detailed records are kept of individual
cases, and systematically indexed for future reference. The discovery
of sickness and ill-health in other members of the family arises
frequently from the infant visiting, and in this way very complete
family histories in disease have been collected, together with much
knowledge of sanitary and economic conditions. This collected
information is particularly valuable in dealing with school children,
with phthisis, and in many other directions. The Hon. Health Visitor
has been assisted in visiting by 25 ladies, and is in close touch with
the various agencies, philanthropic and otherwise, working in the City,
most of which send representatives to the committees of the Society.
It is with regret that I have to add that owing to ill-health Miss Horn
is unable to continue the double duty, but her valuable experience,
together with the assistance of the other Visitors, will still be
available.
The Council has continued the special attention it has given for
some years to the purity of the food sold in the City and the sanitary
condition of the places in which it is prepared.
The inspection of workshops and workplaces occupies a large part
of the time of the Inspectors, and especially of the two Lady
Inspectors. Details of the defects found are set out in special tables,
and particulars are also given relative to houses in which work is
carried out by out-workers.