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TO THE MEMBERS
of the
FINCHLEY URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.
Gentlemen,
The Year 1894 was noteworthy for low mortality returns
in the country generally; the death-rate from all causes and
from each of the infectious diseases—with the sole exception
of Diphtheria—were all well below the mean of the previous
10 years. The vital returns of the Finchley District will be
seen to compare not unfavourably with those of the preceding
year, though they are not quite so satisfactory as those of some
previous years. The general death-rate was only 12.8, and this
is additionally satisfactory when it is noted that there was for
the same period a marked rise in the birth-rate—a circumstance
which in itself tends to increase the death-rate.
The year has been somewhat eventful in a public health
sense, for the district was once seriously threatened with an
epidemic of small-pox, and later we experienced a very considerable
outbreak of serious throat-illness, some of which
ultimately developed into Diphtheria.
The sickness and mortality from Whooping Cough have
both been excessive during the past year and the matter is one
which is dealt with somewhat fully in my Report. On the
other hand there has been a most remarkable falling off in the
amount of sickness from Scarlet Fever and there was no
mortality whatever from this complaint ; the sickness from