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Town Hall,
Euston Road, N.W.I.
June, 1953.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of St. Pancras.
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in presenting to you my annual report for 1952.
The population in the middle of the year, as estimated by the Registrar-General, was
139,600, which is 500 more than in 1951. The number of births increased from 2,146 to 2,186,
the birth rate rising from 15.43 to 15.66. Deaths at all ages were 1,658, showing a decrease of
145, and the death rate fell from 12.96 to 11.87.
The number of children dying under the age of 1 year was 56, the infant mortality rate
being 25.61 per thousand registered live births. This is .49 less than in 1951.
Deaths from tuberculosis fell from 73 to 46, and the death rate from this disease per
thousand of the estimated population from .52 to .33.
These preliminary figures indicate that, by and large, the health of the inhabitants of
the borough was at least maintained during the course of the year.
I should find it difficult to attribute to any particular factors the improvement in health
over the past years, as evidenced by the lessened incidence of certain illnesses, the lowered
mortality rate and the increase in the years of expectancy of life. Undoubtedly the better
availability of medical advice and treatment, the advances of science and the improvement in
curative methods must be of importance. The public appreciates this, for these services are
obvious and in fact they advertise themselves. The value of a healthy environmental background
is seldom appreciated as of prime importance. During the year no less than 37,000
visits were paid to private houses on complaint or as part of a routine survey. 5,904 visits
were paid to factories, and the conditions of 723 outworkers were kept under supervision.
Restaurants and catering establishments received no less than 1,713 visits, and on page 55
will be seen a list of food that has been voluntarily surrendered as unfit for human
consumption. The continuous supervision year by year of the homes in which the people live,
the factories in which they work and the food on which they are nourished, though unspectacular,
forms the basis of improvement in the social life of the inhabitants of the borough. These
visits are often interpreted as a bureaucratic interference with the life of the individual, and
with the work of the manufacturer and caterer. They are in fact nothing of the sort. They
represent co-operation between the Council and the residents of the borough, both in their home
and industrial life; they represent a steady improvement in the appreciation of health principles.
The food inspector seldom seizes merchandise from a cunning vendor who wishes to unload
food unfit for human consumption upon an ignorant purchaser. It is a routine for the food
inspectors' services to be sought by a reputable owner of food who wishes to know if his
commodity is fit for human consumption and who is almost invariably prepared to surrender
it for destruction or for some suitable purpose if the food inspector so advises him. I have
been more than satisfied with the willingness of the caterer to take advantage of the advice
and help afforded by the public health department. In the same way the owner of a factory is
prepared and anxious to improve his premises in order to comply with the best principles of