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Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Wood Green, N. 22.
July, 1958.
To THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN and COUNCILLORS
of the BOROUGH OF WOOD WEEN.
Mr. Mayor, Ladles and Gentlemen,
I beg to present the Annual Report for 1957.
The year under review was again relatively uneventful.
Apart from the two-yearly epidemic of measles which arrived in
1957, the year was free from epidemics or even what might be
termed outbreaks of infectious disease. This matter will receive
more detailed attention in the section of the report dealing
with the prevalence and control of infectious diseases.
The vital statistics for 1957 were also satisfactory, with
the usual proviso that the figures for one year in respect of a
population of less than one hundred thousand cannot be regarded
as in any way conclusive. The birth rate rose from 11.5 to
13.2. The death rate was 9.6, as against 10.7 for 1956. There
were again no deaths from puerperal causes. The infantile
mortality rate, i.e. the number of infants who died during the
first year of life for every thousand live births, fell from
17.3 to 16.8. These matters will be discussed again in the
section of the report dealing with statistics and social additions
of the Area,
Work under the Housing Repairs and Rents Act 1954 continued
during the year and will be fully dealt with in the section of
the report covering this important field.
The position in regard to the setting up of our Smoke Control
Area in Wood Green was further explored. After very careful
deliberation, details of a proposed Smoke Control Area were submitted
to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. The
Minister s approval was obtained and a detailed survey of the
selected area was commenced in the latter part of the year. This
matter will be dealt with more fully in another part of the report,
The coming into force of the Rent Act, 1957, has placed a
certain amount of extra work on the shoulders of the Public
Health Department. So far as the Department itself is concerned,
this work has proceeded without incident. The Annual Report for
1957 is not, of course, the proper place in which to discuss the
final implications of such a far-reaching Act.
Altogether, the year 1957 has not presented any significant
problems other than those problems which we have come to know so
well. Housing still remains one of our fundamental difficulties,
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