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7
To the Chairman and Members of the
Chislehurst and Sidcup Urban District Council.
Madam Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In this the seventh report I have made to you, I should like
to commence by referring to what may well be called some lucky
escapes. The dangers which have been escaped during the year
include anterior poliomyelitis, diphtheria and many accidents which
human carelessness and frailty had made likely. The lucky element
comes in when one considers how little forethought is given to the
prevention of these calamities by quite a high proportion of our
population. In the absence of cases of poliomyelitis and diphtheria,
it is difficult to persuade people to be protected against these
diseases, yet it must be obvious to all that such a time is an ideal
one for taking the necessary precautions. Although the number
of accidents, other than motor vehicle ones, showed a slight reduction,
the figure of seven is still too high, but one realises only too
well that but for lucky escapes, this figure would inevitably have
been much higher. It seems that so little thought is given to safety
in the home, simply because the word "home" is associated with
a kindly security which is in fact very often far from being a fact.
While on the subject of home hazards, the opportunity must not be
lost of drawing attention to the risks of suffocation attendant upon
wrongful use of thin polythene film. This material which does the
job for which it is manufactured so splendidly, can be a menace
if after its use, it is left about for babies or young children to play
with, and it is best destroyed if there is any risk of this happening.
The vital statistics do not show a great deal of variation from
the previous year, but your attention is drawn to the fact that the
number of deaths registered during the year has fallen from 762
to 702, at a time when the population has increased by 730. It is
not without interest to study some of the diseases which have been
responsible for fewer deaths this year than there were in 1959. It
is gratifying to find that both cancer in general and lung cancer
showed a fall in the number of deaths, but until a steady year-byyear
drop is achieved, too much notice should not be taken of
single isolated figures such as these. Respiratory diseases were the
other group of illnesses to exact a considerably reduced toll, and
these, together with the cancers, were mainly responsible for the
more favourable death figures.
Infectious disease notifications reached a very low level and
one can say that the general physical well-being of the people is
very good, but, one wonders what sort of malaise is affecting those
who do malicious damage to public conveniences. This damage
to public property, and in fact to property belonging to anyone but
the perpetrators, is a serious problem which is not of course local