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medicine. It is necessary to point this out before proceeding
to examine some of the statistical pointers to the health of
the Borough.
The birth rate for 1954 was 11.8 per thousand of the
population compared with 12.7 per 1,000 in 1953 and represents
the lowest birth rate ever recorded in the Borough. Thus
the downward trend of the past four years has continued
The standardised birth rate, which allows for comparison
with other parts of the country, is 12.2, but the rate is well
below that for England and Wales which was 15.2. It looks
as if we may have to regard a low birth rate as a permanent
feature of our modern society. When this is coupled
with a low death rate and a greater expectation of life, the
result can only be an ageing population with the many social
and industrial problems which that must bring.
The death rate for the Borough fell still further to 8.1
per thousand of the estimated home population compared
with 8.8 in 1953 and a rate of 11.3 per 1,000 for England
and Wales. The two main causes of death, as in recent
years, were diseases of the heart and blood vessels and
cancer, the latter including 32 deaths from cancer of the
lung. The prevention of cancer is one of the great public
health tasks of the future and may well be, in part, wrapped
up with a Clean Air policy as fore-shadowed by the Beaver
Report. Since we are mortal and must die of something the
best we can hope for is that life should come quietly and
peacefully to an end without the intervention of any preventable
catastrophe in which category at least some forms
of cancer probably fall.
The infant mortality rate for 1954, that is the number
of children dying in the first year of life for every 1,000
live births, was 22.1 per 1,000 against 14.36 per 1,000 in
1953. This is the highest rate since 1951 when the rate was
24.76. Of the 23 deaths which were responsible for this
rate, no less than 13 were due to congenital malformation
and premature birth, conditions of which too little is still
known for any form of prevention to be applied. The rate
for England and Wales for 1954 was 25.5 In 1952 the low
figure of 11.34 was recorded in the Borough, but there is
no need for undue concern in that the overall trend of infant
mortality is favourable and there are bound to be annual
variations which are to a large extent fortuitous.
Although there were 1,056 total births during the year
there were no maternal deaths. This is a fine record and
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