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To the
MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS
OF THE
BOROUGH OF SOUTHGATE.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The vital statistics for the past twelve months are definitely
satisfactory. The Death Rate has fallen from 10.59 to 9.34, the
Infantile Mortality Rate from 42.55 to 31.09, while the Maternal
Mortality Rate has been reduced from 4.44 to 1.25. The Zymotic
Death Rate and the deaths of children under 5 years show a very
slight rise, but in these instances the comparable figures are so
small as to make no appreciable statistical deviation. For the
third year in succession the Infectious Sickness Rate for the district
has been under 4 per thousand, an enviable record for any highly
urbanised community.
The year 1938 was, of course, outstanding for the rapid development
of A.R.P. throughout the country. Fuller mention of this
will be found in the body of the report, but I should like here to
stress the fact that the routine Public Health activities of the
Department were carried out under no little difficulty, at least so
far as the latter part of the year was concerned. Fortunately, no
evidence has yet appeared that the health of the district has been
allowed to suffer. Nevertheless, it would obviously be highly
dangerous to neglect basic Public Health safeguards, even for such
an important development as A.R.P. For this reason, the negotiations
at present proceeding for the augmentation of the existing
staff are at once extremely welcome and fundamentally necessary.
At one time it even appeared that the production of this Annual
Report would present an almost insuperable problem. I was,
however, extremely unwilling to forego the privilege of presenting
such comments as appeared necessary upon the various aspects of
Public Health during 1938. As a compromise I have reduced
these comments to what I consider a reasonable minimum, without,
I trust, in any way affecting the structure of the report.
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