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The economic position was, however, very unsettled.
The Coal Strike which occurred during the spring does
not seem, however, to have caused as much disturbance as
might have been expected. The Dock Strike, which lasted
over the months of July and August, was the cause of much
distress, though little, if any, effect can be detected either in
the rate of Infantile Mortality or increase in number plying
from causes either directly or indirectly associated with insufficient
and unsuitable food.
The cost of living has increased during the year, and
though the improved rates of wages, in what may be termed
the middle and upper strata of the working classes, more than
compensate this, it is to be feared that the lowest strata is in
much the same position if not actually worse off, though there
is reason to believe that this section of our population is a
relatively smaller proportion of the whole than of former
years.
The most important economic feature of the year, bearing
on the national health, was the inauguration of the Insurance
Act with its ancillary schemes for the control of Tuberculosis,