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Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Friern Barnet;
Middlesex.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present my Annual Report for
1961.
As Medical Officer of Health for the
Urban District, I feel that I am extremely fortunate
in having been able to state in so many Annual Reports.
that "the year under review was once again uneventful".
This has certainly made my yearly survey less excitingand
undoubtedly less interesting- than would otherwise
have been the case. None the less, it clearly points
to the happy position in which Friern Barnet has found
itself for so many years. This has been largely due
to the careful planning which has gone into shaping the
Urban District, and to the vigilence which my predecessors
as Medical Officers of Health have exercised. Our
present duty is equally clear, and could be reduced to
the single, time-worn phrase, "that which we have, vie
hold". This certainly typifies the duty of the Public
Health Department, a duty which the Department has always
accepted and will continue to accept.
The vital statistics for 1961 were again
satisfactory - with one exception - and compare well with
those of preceding years. The death-rate was up, being
11.3 as against 9.5 in I960, but is still lower than that
for the country as a whole (12.0). The birth-rate rose
from 13.8 in 1960 and 13.4 in 1959 to 14.1 in 1961.
The rise here is relatively insignificant, although itshould
be noted. The infantile mortality rate, i.e.
the number of infants who died during the first year
of life per thousand live births, was 44.7 as against
14.1 in I960 and 43.6 in 1959. This will be referred
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