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TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS
OF THE BOROUGH OF FINCHLEY
August 1951.
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for 1950.
The vital statistics are excellent. The Infantile Mortality
rate reached a new low level at 16.6 per 1.000 live births, a figure
which would have been considered impossible of attainment 30
years ago.
There was a slight drop in the birth rate and in the general
death rate.
Although there was an increase in certain of the common
infectious diseases such as Measles and Whooping Cough, there
was not a single death from any of them.
There were only three cases of Poliomyelitis.
The Borough has now been entirely free from Diphtheria
for more than five years, and if parents continue to do their duty
by having their children immunised there is no reason why the
disease should ever return.
There was a slight but very welcome fall in both notifications
of and deaths from tuberculosis.
The housing problem remains much the same as it has been
during the post-war years, and there is nothing to add to what I
have said in recent reports.
A lot of work has been done in an attempt to instil into those
who handle our food a greater sense of the importance of cleanliness.
Many of the food traders have been most co-operative but
still more have remained indifferent. It is realised that a long and
sustained effort will be necessary to arouse the interest of the
latter group.
The welfare of the aged is a growing problem. There are
many old people in the Borough who are unable to look after
themselves and are not being properly cared for. When they
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