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The calls on the service increased as the years went by and just prior
to the late war, between eight and nine hundred calls were dealt with
annually.
At the beginning of the war there were two motor ambulances, one
of which had been purchased in 1930.
The Fire Service continued to man the ambulances until the
formation of the National Fire Service, when the work was taken over
by the Civil Defence Casualty Service. This service was disbanded at
the end of the War in Europe in May, 1945, and the responsibility for
carrying on the work devolved on the Public Health Committee. This
entailed the engagement of a considerable number of men which greatly
increased the cost of the service without adding to its efficiency.
The Beckenham and Penge authorities joined in a scheme to serve
both districts and the service was administered from Beckenham. The
National Fire Service co-operated to the extent of providing quarters
and messing arrangements for the staff at the Beckenham and Penge
Fire Stations, and by allowing all calls to be received at the watch-rooms
of the respective stations.
The pre-war ambulances in the possession of Beckenham and Penge
were showing signs of wear : it was not possible to purchase new
vehicles, and so the service was largely worked with old Civil Defence
ambulances equipped with special bodies. These vehicles were originally
large private cars and could not be expected to stand up to the constant
heavy work they were called upon to undertake. The number of calls
received annually had risen to over 2,000. Reciprocal arrangements
for dealing with calls were made with all neighbouring authorities. I
think that it is greatly to the credit of all concerned that in the three
years during which this service was in existence, only 7 per cent. of all
calls received had to be transferred to neighbouring ambulance services.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
Diphtheria.
Two cases were notified during the year. In one case the diagnosis
was not confirmed and the notification was subsequently withdrawn.
In each of the two previous years, two cases were notified.
This almost complete extinction of the disease is highly satisfactory,
but, although it sounds paradoxical, it makes the need for immunisation
even more necessary than before. As I have pointed out in the past,
freedom from the disease depends on the degree of individual and of mass
resistance present in the population. In communities, resistance to
infectious disease is naturally governed by the gradual acquisition of an
active immunity, which is produced by the repeated reception of subclinical
doses of the toxins of the diseases : each of these minute doses
helps to build up a natural content of antitoxin in the person's tissues,
and in time the amount of antitoxin so produced is sufficient to protect
against even massive doses of infection. To enable this natural
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