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10
The most unsatisfactory feature in the death returns for
1906 was the heavy mortality from diarrhoea amongst infants
during the third quarter of the year. The occurrence of five
deaths from scarlet fever, although exceptional, is not a
matter for surprise, as the type of many of the cases notified
was unusually severe. The number of deaths due to phthisis,
and those ascribed to old age, were above the average, and
combined with the factors already mentioned are sufficient to
account for the rise in the general death-rate.
After making allowance for the relative number of the
population in each Sub-District, it is found that the heaviest
mortality was again recorded in East Finchley, and that the
rate in North Finchley was only slightly less. Judging merely
from these facts it might be thought that these areas were for
some reasons less healthy than West Finchley and Whetstone.
But in this connection it must be remembered that East Finchley
contains relatively, as well as actually, a greater proportion
of persons verging on poverty than any of the other SubDistricts.
The association of poverty with sickness and excessive
mortality is specially noticeable during the early years
of life, and will be referred to again when considering the
infantile mortality.