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The annual reports show that schools, or parts of schools, were closed on account of
measles prevalence among the pupils in the following districts—"Westminster, Islington, the
City, Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Poplar, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Lewisham and Woolwich.
In a number of reports reference is made to the decision of the Board of Education to
discontinue, as from 31st March, 1903, the special epidemic grant which has hitherto been allowed
to schools for loss of income in any particular year, owing to the ordinary grant being reduced
through diminished attendances while the expenditure on staff and maintenance remain unaltered.
The opinion is generally expressed by medical officers of health that the discontinuance of the
epidemic grant is to be regretted. The Board gave as a reason for this decision that the amounts
paid on this head to individual schools had, as a rule, been inconsiderable, and that administrative
difficulties had arisen in connection with the grant.
Scarlet Fevee.
The cases of scarlet fever notified in the administrative county of London during 1903
(52 weeks) numbered 12,531, compared with 18,252 in 1902. The number of deaths registered
from this cause was 361 in 1903 (52 weeks), compared with 560 in 1902.
The London rates in 1903 and preceding periods are shown in the following table—

The death-rate in each year since 1858 in relation to the mean death-rate of the period
1859-1903 will be seen on reference to diagram VII. The monthly case-rate and case-mortality
in each of the years 1891-1903 in relation to the mean of the whole period is shown in diagram IX.
The seasonal curve of scarlet fever based upon the cases notified in the 14 years 1890-1903
is shown in diagram IV., page 13.
It will be seen from the following table that in the period 1893-1902 the London scarlet
fever death-rate was exceeded by the death-rates of all the undermentioned English towns,
except Leeds, Bristol, West Ham, Hull and Newcastle ; and in 1903 was exceeded by all,
except West Ham, Hull and Leicester—

The following table shows that the London scarlet fever death-rate was, in the period
1893-1902, lower than that of any of the undermentioned foreign towns except Paris, Brussels,
Amsterdam and Rome, while in 1903 it exceeded that of any except Copenhagen, St. Petersburg,
Berlin and New York—

1 The Infectious Disease (Notification) Act came into force in 1889.
* See footnote (1) page 7. * See footnote(2) page 7.