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MEDICAL OFFICER'S ANNUAL REPORT 1925 SHEET 2 of DRAFT
NATURAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF THE AREA.
Area (in acres) 1304.
POPULATION
Census 1921-17381. Estimated 1925 by Registrar General 18540.
I have in previous reports commented upon the difficulty of
estimating accurately the population of a small district in the
suburban area of Greater London, various methods have been tried with
more or less success amongst which may be mentioned
(1) The Registrar General's method of computing it from the two latest
census returns. The accuracy of the result obtained by this method
depends entirely upon the assumption that the population is varying
at the same rate and same manner as it did in the 10 past inter-censal
years, local observation shows that such an assumption would be misleading.
(2) The method of taking the number of poeple per inhabited house
on the night of the Census and multiplying it by the estimated number
of inhabited houses as obtained from the rate books at the middle of
the year. This method gives a result fairly near the truth, but owing
to the various classes of house it is of no use in estimating the
population of a part of the district such as a Ward.
(3) The method of making use of actual data conveniently obtained in
the middle of the year in the compilation of the half yearly Register
of electors. I find that for various areas the proportion of electors
to population remains very constant over a long period and the Register
of Electors gives us at present the most accurate estimate of our population
in the middle of the year that is obtainable. The Registrar
kindly supplies an estimate of our population but as it is received too
late in the year to enable an early preparation of the annual report
I have used the estimate based on local knowledge.
The population given in the tables for the years subsequent to 1921
are obtained by method (3). The populations for years previous to 1921
are computed from the Census returns and will therefore differ slightly
from the estimates of such population as given in my previous reports.

PHYSICAL FEATURES AND GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE DISTRICT.
Friern Barnet is an Urban District of Middlesex co-terminal with, the
ancient Parish (and formerly a part of the Barnet Rural District')
situated on the Northern Heights about 8 miles N. N. W. of Charing
Cross with a middle latitude of 51-33-0 North and Longitude 0-10-0
West, it comprises 1304.9 acres of land and inland water.
The surface is undulating, there are two principal valleys running
roughly parallel in an easterly direction, the ridge of the dividing
watershed being defined by Friern Barnet Road which is about 220 feet
above 0. D. The crown of this ridge consists of a clean sandy gravel
about 10 feet thick.