View report page

V
Annual Report on the Health and Sanitary
Condition of the City of Westminster.
1928.
Mr. Mayor, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report for 1926.
This report is, in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry
of Health, submitted as an Ordinary Report. That of last year was a
Survey Report, which dealt in a somewhat fuller manner with the
sanitary conditions of the City and the various matters concerning the
public health which had occurred during the previous five years.
The health of the City continued to be satisfactory during 1926.
Although a large number of cases of Measles were recorded, the
outbreak, on the whole, was of a mild character. There were markedly
fewer cases of Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever, particularly in the Victoria
and St. John Wards.
There was a noteworthy decrease in the death rate, and an increase
in the birth rate.
The City Council were the second authority in London to adopt the
Schick method for the prevention of Diphtheria. This work was instituted
in Holborn five years ago, and is still proceeding in that Borough. It
has since been introduced in Camberwell and Deptford. It is a measure
which is likely to have a far-reaching influence in the control of this
dangerous and infectious disease. Since the month of September this