View report page

6
As I have previously mentioned, there was no
case of small pox. and the notifications of enteric
fever have, as will be seen, greatly diminished in
number, and with only one death. The cases of
erysipelas were generally slight, and all resulted
ie. recovery. The two cases of puerperal fever unhappily
ended fatally; every necessary precaution
in reference to these was carried out, and,
in addition, compensation was granted to the
nurses in attendance during the period they were
suspended from work under my orders. Of the
total number of notified cases 148 received treatment
in the Council's hospital, which, at one
time of the year, was unable (owing to the excess
of scarlatina patients requiring admission)
to receive them all. This difficulty will be met
by the erection of the new hospital buildings
which are rapidly approaching completion, and
will be available before long for occupation. Indeed.
it is anticipated that one at least of the
new blocks will be available for patients in May
next. Beyond saying that these additional buildings
will amply provide for the needs of the
borough in this respect for many years to come, I
defer for a future occasion any detailed description
of them.
Births.
The births registered during the year numbered
1,054 (males 512, females 542) being an increase
of 133 over the previous year. This is the
first occasion upon which the total births have
reached 1,000 in the borough, and it is satisfactory
to note that the birth rate, which is equivalent
to 24.07 per 1,000 of the population, exceeds
that of 1903 by 1 per 1.000.
Natural Increase.
The natural increase of the population, i.e., the
excess of births over deaths, is 588. A tabular
return of the birth and death rates for the last
ten years is here appended. With regard to general
sanitarv administration and inspection on
the part of' myself and staff, a large and serviceable
amount of work has been performed.
This borough contains no factory buildings of
any large size, but every attention has been
bestowed upon such establishments as come
under the provisions of the Factory and Workshops
Act of 1901, viz.. workshops, laundries,
bakehouses, etc., and in all these I believe compliance
with the above Act in every material
respect is strictly carried out. Few communications
have been received from the inspector of
factories, and I am able to state that Section