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history of the Borough has greater voluntary effort been
expended in the care of the elderly and the handicapped
than is the case today.
Turning to those aspects of health in which definite
information is available, the vital statistics for the Borough
were, once again, satisfactory. The birth rate at 12.6 per
thousand showed an increase over the rate of 11.8 in 1954,
which was the lowest birth rate ever recorded in the Borough
but there has been no discernible upward or downward trend
over the past five years. The standardised birth rate, which
allows for comparison with other parts of the country, was
13.0 and was well below that for England and Wales which
was 15.0 per thousand. The still-birth rate at 16.7 per
thousand total births showed an increase over 1954 (13.26),
but this has no special significance and the rate was considerably
lower than that for England and Wales.
The death rate for the Borough rose slightly to 9.1 per
thousand of the estimated whole population (8.1 in 1954)
but the standardised death rate of 10.4 was below the death
rate for England and Wales for 1955 which was 11.7 per
thousand. Cancer of the lung was responsible for 48 deaths
and showed an increase of 16 as compared with 1954. Fortytwo
of the 48 deaths were in males. There has been much controversy
over the part played by smoking in the causation
of lung cancer and it is safe to say that, while statistical
evidence does not provide definite proof that cigarette
smoking directly causes cancer of the lung, the accumulated
evidence is such as to denote a cause and effect relationship.
In the circumstances it seems reasonable to advise young
people not to take up smoking and, in the case of heavy
smokers of middle age, to say that published data indicate
that there may be some diminution in risk to those who
give up smoking even after many years of addiction.
The infant mortality rate for 1955, that is the number
of children dying in the first year of life for every thousand
live births, was 17.0 compared with 22.1 per thousand in
1954. The rate compares favourably with that for England
and Wales, which was 24.9.
There was one maternal death during the year, giving a
maternal mortality rate of 0.88 per thousand live and stillbirths.
In regard to infectious diseases, measles reached
epidemic proportions in 1955, 1.762 cases being notified.
There were no deaths from this disease and, indeed, there
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