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If the excess of deaths of infants under one from Measles, and the deaths o
infants under one from Diarrhoea, which was due to the extreme heat, be deducted,
the number of deaths under one year of age would be 985, or 56 less than in the
preceding year, or at the rate of 116 per 1,000 births, which would only be slightly
higher than in the previous year.
There has been a marked decrease in the infantile mortality during the last 20
years or so in each district in the Borough, but nowhere so marked perhaps as in the
Limehouse District, where it was above 200 per 1,000 births in the two quinquennial
periods, 1895-1899, and 1900-1904.

For a few years previous to 1911, the marked decrease in infantile mortality was
probably due to such favourable conditions as cool and wet summers which we experienced.
These conditions, however, cannot be held responsible for the gradual
decline during the last 22 years. It must be due to improved sanitary conditions and
an awakening to the fact that innumerable and unnecessary deaths were occurring
from year to year.
Great as the diminuation has been, and although it may be considered to be
favourable when compared with other eastern Boroughs, it is still far too high. The
tendency of recent legislation has been in the direction to protect infants and young
children. The Insurance Act should assist in this direction by the maternity grant
where it will be most needed and probably more utilised than in other districts. In the
" Limehouse Fields " area, the infantile mortality is very high, and there are more
women working in factories here than in any other part of the Borough of Stepney.
The maternity grant will be of material assistance, as nothing is more fatal to young
babies than the early resumption of work by mothers who have recently been confined.
After receiving the grant, there will not be the same urgency for the early
resumption of work.
Report on the work of the Health Visitor.
The Health Visitor devotes her energies especially to a part of the district where
the infantile mortality has been for many years abnormally high. Last year
she visited after the notifications of births were received, instead of after
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