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11
twenty-three and an infant death rate of one hundred and fiftyeight.
It was, in spite of this, described in Mr. Charles Freeman's
"History of Bromley — "No Parish, perhaps, considering its
short distances from the Metropolis and that coaches pass through
it almost every hour of the day, could afford a more desirable
retreat from the hurry and bustle of Town." Even in those days
Bromley was noted for the excellence of its private schools. It
boasted of a" workhouse on the western side of the street in the
entrance from London" as it boasted in the 17th century of an
Infectious Disease Hospital or "Pest House" on almost the same
location. This tradition of being in the forefront has been
carried on to the present day when Bromley is recognised as a
well administered model Municipal Borough with a population
of 64,610 persons living in 18,101 houses and flats.
Bromley may have lost much of its romance, its picturesqueness,
its rural "old world" beauty, but it has certainly gained
in Public Health. Some 40 years ago. 40% of school-children
showed evidence of vermin, 30% extreme dental caries and
10% serious visual defects. The infant death rate has been
progressively reduced from 131 to 21.3 in 1950. This is the
economic triumph of prevention over treatment. It may be,
however, that we are to-day, through no fault of our own, being
over-administered at costs which are crippling to the very people
we are wishful to help. There is too, apparent to those who care
to seek, an increasing tendency to depend upon a benevolent
state, upon the efforts of others and a lessening of that necessity
to all vital States—"self-help," but these are I am sure only
temporary troubles.
The day must come when local incentive and local interest
will require truly local government. With development of new
estates, shops, houses and transport, the boundaries of Local
Authorities are no longer defined, and amalgamation of
authorities is a natural sequence—large enough to be financially
sound and small enough so that the administrator, the elected
representative, and the electorate, are members of a team and
can exercise their functions without reference to forms and form
filling.
The vital statistics of the year show progressive improvement.
A death rate of 11.4, a birth rate of 13.8 and an infantile mortality
rate of 21.3 all show the result of improved environmental and
social conditions of the people which began with the 1875 Act
and was especially marked with the development of the local
services since 1918.