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9
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the
Borough of Bromley.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In submitting the Annual Report for the year 1952, which is
my 28th report to you, I have followed very much the form of
previous years. I have thought it advisable to continue the
statistical tables, if only for the reason of making yearly local
comparisons, although it is true that, based solely on statistics,
such comparisons are apt to lead to false conclusions. If these
statistics over the years prove anything, they prove that infectious
diseases as a cause of death in Bromley are to-day negligible and
that the greatest danger to life lies in those groups of diseases
which are classified as cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory, and
that with the increasing average age of the population, this
danger becomes more apparent.
It is, perhaps, regrettable that I am unable to submit statistics
which can give a clear picture of the capacity of the people or
of the individual to work or to live a full life of happiness.
Neither are there any figures to prove or disprove the too often
expressed view that there is an increasing mental disbalance in
spite of the improving standards in physically healthy people.
One can, however, deny the statement that the young person of
to-day has not the physical and moral stamina of his or her
forebears. It is an old custom and a privilege given to the older
generation to criticise the new.
We live once again in times of change. The services which
began with environmental hygiene as the way to health, have
passed through the period where the prevention of infant deaths
was given priority, and we are now faced with the priority for
the prevention of illnesses of middle life which lead to incapacity
or to deaths from cancer, coronary thrombosis and gastric and
peptic ulcers. The social services have extended to the care of
the aged, and to some extent, are replacing the social services
applicable to the newborn child. Owing to the comparatively
high cost of treatment under the National Health Service Act,
public opinion is once again being directed to the need for
preventive services. The past successes of the preventive
services are many and, as examples, one can cite the triumphs
already obtained in the almost complete abolition of Diphtheria
deaths from the yearly returns, the great reduction of deaths
from Tuberculosis, one of the many reasons of this being the