View report page

4
The report should deal with the extent, distribution and
causes of disease within the district; and should give an account
of any noteworthy outbreaks of epidemic diseases during the
year under review, stating the results of his investigations into
their origin and propagation, and the steps taken by him, or on
his advice, to check their spread. As these reports are for the
information of the Local Government Board and of the County
Council, as well as of the Council of the District, a statement of
the local circumstances and a history of local sanitary questions,
which may seem superfluous for the latter, may often be needed
by the former bodies.
The tabular statements of sickness and mortality in the
district during the year, are appended on forms supplied for that
purpose, and are the subject of comments in the rest of the
report. These Tables are given at the end of the report;
Table 5 appears in that form this year for the first time.
One Table is supplied by the Home Office for the guidance
and convenience of Medical Officers of Health in preparing that
part of their Annual Report which relates to Factories, Workshops,
Workplaces and Homework. Section 132 of the Factory
and Workshops Act, 1901, requires that the Medical Officer of
Health of every District Council shall, in his Annual Report to
them, report specifically on the administration of this Act in
Workshops and Workplaces ; and he shall send a copy of his
Annual Report, or so much as deals with this subject to the
Secretary of State.
POPULATION.
As population is the basis of all our vital statistics, it is of
the greatest importance that we should arrive at a fairly correct
estimate of it, if any reliance is to be placed on the mortality
and other statistics. Our knowledge rests primarily on the
Census returns which have been made regularly since 1801, and
the numbers of the latest enumerations are utilized as a basis to
calculate the probable increase or decrease in the population.