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. 5
BOROUGH OF BROMLEY.
Report of _Medical Officer of Health for Year 1941.
CONFIDENTIA L.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I beg to submit the Annual Report for 1941, and at the
same time I must express regret for the delay in publication
but, although the bulk of the Report had been prepared
earlier in the year, its final completion had to be
unavoidably deferred owing to stress of work and recurring
changes in staff personnel unsettling the smooth running
of administrative routine.
The Report is an abridged and Interim one, and has been
prepared on the lines suggested by the Ministry of Health
in Circulars 2604, 2314 and 2067. The Ministrv has
suggested that care should be taken to avoid publishing
certain statistics and to refrain from referring to
activities in connection with public works extensions or
developments, in the interests of National security.
Previous substantial curtailments of reports together
with this further restriction so circumscribes the scope
of the Report as to render it of diminished value for
general circulation or for future archival interest.
It was therefore decided to issue the Report in typescript
as a confidential publication, limiting its circulation
to official requirements only, thus allowing if
necessary any references or quotations without compromising
matters of National security. Fuller details of annual
statistics have been compiled and are retained for future
reference in the Department.
It has been truly stated that good health of the
Public ranks in war-time as an important munition of war.
neglect to control the factors which threaten serious
deterioration. of public health might well end in the
subversion of the productive effort of the workers and a
weakening of the national will to victory. Fortunately
there has been no serious health deterioration since the
outbreak of war, no serious epidemics, and no apparent
signs of general ill-nutrition. There have been, however,
certain degrees of deterioration which must not be overlooked-the
general rise in both incidence and mortality
of tuberculosis; infantile mortality has risen in the
ountry-always regarded as an indication of the state
Public health-and the prevalence of cerebro-spinal