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4
nationally on the abatement of noise which in its own way can be
just as harmful to health.
While most people will readily accept the need for Clean Air,
I foresee, unfortunately, some reluctance to accept the same need
or degree of urgency with regard to noise, because what may be
pleasantly noisy to some or unnoticed by others, may constitute
a real nuisance to quite a number of people, as witnessed by the
fact that the B.B.C. frequently broadcast requests in the Summer
for people to reduce the volume of sound from their radio sets.
I myself, have on occasions, in the course of duty which involves
entering houses to undertake an examination or inspection, found
it necessary to request householders to switch off the radio to which
they have grown accustomed or oblivious, in order that I could
carry out my work satisfactorily. Noise nuisance can come from
such a variety of sources, in such a variety of forms, to such a
variety of recipients, that I think that control of noise nuisance is
fraught with difficulty.
Now let us look at the Vital Statistics of the Borough. The
population has increased slightly to 109,700, and the number of
inhabited houses has also increased, although the need for more is
still urgent. The Birth Rate is slightly lower at 13.44 per thousand
population and the illegitimate rate remains around its usual figure
of about 4 per cent, of total births.
There was a marked decrease in the number of still-births, and
the Infant Mortality Rate of 19.66 compares favourably with that
of England and Wales at 22.0. The Death Rate was also somewhat
lower than that for England and Wales, but unfortunately one
woman died in consequence of childbirth.
Cancer continues to take its heavy toll and cancer of the
lungs and bronchi shows no evidence of abating. The fact that
nearly twelve times as many people died from this form of cancer
as died from tuberculosis of the lungs needs no further comment
from me this year.
Home accidents, road accidents, other accidents and suicides,
continue to cause concern particularly because of the preventable
nature of many of them. For many years I have tried to stress the
importance of safeguards in the home to prevent the occurrence
of so much unnecessary suffering and sorrow. This year I feel
impelled also to refer to fatal road accidents because of the publicity
given recently to the consumption of alcohol as a cause, and to
wonder if, perhaps, we should not be condemning haste, selfishness,
impatience, and downright bad manners by all categories of road
users, as the main causes—all factors well within the bounds of
prevention.