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Statistics and Social Conditions
of the Area
Area (in acres) 3,764
Registrar General's estimate of Resident Civilian
Population, 1948 74,030
Number of inhabited houses (end of 1948) according
to Rate Books 21,754
Rateable Value (1948) 940,610
Sum represented by a penny rate (1948) 3,810
The social conditions of the area are very much the same as
set out in the Annual Report for 1947.
Overcrowding is still a problem which continues to exert
its influence on the lives and well-being of the population. It is
not easy to evaluate either the extent of overcrowding or the
degree to which this factor affects health. The information at
our disposal is unfortunately not sufficient to allow us to trace
the effects of overcrowding, either gross or comparatively slight,
through the various phases of health and disease. Until, for
instance, we have more detailed information as to the actual
degree of overcrowding which exists in individual families and
in specific portions of the district, we cannot say how far death
and morbidity rates are being affected by this social factor. In a
district such as Southgate, where evidence of gross overcrowding
is relatively meagre, the problem is particularly difficult. None
the less, this is an aspect of environmental hygiene which must
receive attention. Now that a clear-cut line has been drawn
between environmental and personal hygiene, 1 propose to take
such steps as are practicable to investigate the effects of overcrowding
on individual families and on the community as a whole.
The results of these investigations will be communicated to the
Public Health Committee as soon as they have been completed.
In the meantime co-operation between the Public Health Department
and the Housing Section will, it is hoped, remove or at
least alleviate the more serious aspects of this menace to health.
Although, as has been so often stated, Southgate is very
largely a dormitory and therefore free from major industrial
problems, these problems do exist. Two instances of disturbance
to the health of a section of the community, alleged to have been
caused by industrial undertakings, have been investigated during
the year. Various reports have been made to the Public Health
Committee, which has considered the question as it relates to
health. In both cases, the evidence available was not considered
sufficient to warrant action by the Borough Council on health
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