View report page

3
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Croydon,
December, 1919.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the County Borough
of Crovdon.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to submit the Annual Report of the work carried out by
the Public Health Department during the year 1918.
In the vital statistics there are one or two notable features.
The birth rate is exceedingly low and is less by nearly 1.2 per
thousand than the death rate. This comparison, however, is not
really a reliable one as the population as estimated by the
Registrar General for the calculation of the birth rate is much
higher than that used for the calculation of the death rate, a
circumstance arising out of the abnormal conditions of the War,
a large proportion of the men of the population being overseas.
The diminution of the birth rate also is to some extent due to this
fact.
The infant mortality of 76 per thousand births is the lowest on
record. In the years 1912. and 1916 the rate zvas 77.
During 1918 the country was visited by two epidemics of
influenza, the second of which was by far the most severe which
the country has experienced since the outbreak of 1890. An
account of these outbreaks in Croydon is given in the report.
The most outstanding event of the year in the Maternity and
Child Welfare work was the opening of St. Mary's Hostel, presented
by the Mayor and Mayoress (Mr. Alderman and Mrs.
Howard Houlder). The Hostel has received very high
encomiums from the medical inspectors of the Local Government
Board. It has been visited by many representatives of other
authorities when similar institutions were projected by them.