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3
TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS
OF THE BOROUGH OF FINCHLEY.
December, 1956.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report for the year
1955. The preparation of the Report for this year has been greatly
delayed by staff difficulties and, in particular, by the lack of a Chief
Clerk for a period of four months. During this time the co-operation
of the available staff enabled the more urgent day to day work of the
department to be efficiently dealt with, but the statistical work
required for a report of this nature could not be resumed until after
the appointment of a Chief Clerk in October.
The Report shows that the state of public health in the Borough
continues to improve. The statistics reveal that both the death rate
and the infantile mortality rate are lower than the national average.
The infantile mortality rate is generally taken as a fair index of the
state of the medical services both from the point of medical care in
the home and as an index of public health efficiency. We can be
satisfied, therefore, in this respect.
A further cause for satisfaction and confidence in the continued
improvement in medical services is shown by the fact that during the
year there was not a single maternal death associated with pregnancy
or child birth. Furthermore, in children between the ages of 5 and
15 years, only one death occurred from all causes.
The principal causes of death are once again coronary thrombosis
and other heart disease. This is followed by cancer, the main
form being cancer of the lung. It is fitting that great interest in the
cause and prevention of this disease is being shown at the present
time among the medical profession and the public. The rise in
mortality from the disease has been startling and has not been
accompanied to the same extent by a rise in mortality from other
forms of cancer. The rise in mortality has been shown to follow
the rise in cigarette smoking which took place in this country thirty
to forty years ago and investigations indicate that the incidence of
cancer of the lung is much greater in heavy smokers than in nonsmokers.
There may well be other factors involved but one should
bear in mind the statement of the Minister of Health as long ago as