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5
Finally I was able to represent one large slum area and 7 small areas.
A Local Inquiry was held on the 17th September regarding the large area,
upon which the Council had made a Compulsory Purchase Order, and regarding
2 of the small areas, upon which the Council had made Clearance Orders.
In due course all these orders were confirmed by the Minister of Health without
modifications.
Whilst on the subject of slum clearance and Local Inquiries there is one
new aspect of the Housing Act 1935 which I would like to mention. Owners
may now claim and obtain compensation for "well maintained" houses and
it is hoped that this will lead to fewer Local Inquiries which are generally
a complete waste of time and money. It is my ambition to obtain a reputation
for being perfectly fair in my "colouring" of the slum clearance map and
that when I mark a property pink the colouring is always confirmed by the
Minister. So far I have been successful, and I hope that owners will come to
realise how useless are their objections and to realise that their most paying
procedure is to refrain from objecting and only to put in a claim that their
property has been well maintained.
It is very pleasant to be able to report a great improvement in the Maternal
Mortality (6 deaths or 1.9 per 1,000 births as compared with 18 deaths or 5.45
per 1,000 births in 1934) and in the Infant Mortality (191 deaths or 63 per
1,000 births as compared with 288 deaths or 87.2 per 1,000 births in 1934).
There were 272 births less than in the previous year and the birth
rate decreased from 15.3 to 14.3.
The population of Stepney continues to decrease. There was a drop
of 3,490 compared with the previous year.
This is the first year since the Borough was formed in which no deaths
from Measles were recorded.
Deaths from all causes numbered 2,393, which is 264 less than last
year.
Deaths from Pulmonary tuberculosis were 36 less than in the
previous year, though there were 2 more deaths from non-pulmonary
tuberculosis.
There was a big decrease in the deaths from Zymotic diseases. Last
year the number of deaths was 204 and this year it was 77.
The notifications of infectious disease showed a decrease of 305 over
the previous year. There were 372 less cases of Scarlet Fever though
there were 29 more cases of Diphtheria.
The Borough was quite free from small-pox during the year.