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METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF STEPNEY
Telephones
STEpney Green 2
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
43, White Horse Road,
Commercial Road, E.l.
TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS OF
THE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF STEPNEY.
Your Worship, Ladies & Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Report for the year I960 on the
state of the public health in Stepney.
I have now been your Medical Officer of Health since 1936 - 25 years,
a sufficiently long period to have given me experience of pre-war and
post-war Stepney. I have seen social and economic changes and witnessed
their effects and, because of the drastic intervention of war, I have
seen the face of the Borough changed and improved more in 25 years than
it might have done in a century.
It would be interesting, at least to me, to record in detail the
progress made and the successes achieved since 1936 and to try and trace
them to their proper source, but this exercise, fascinating though it
would be, might also be somewhat disappointing. Much that 25 years
ago appeared to be easy of achievement has proved to be difficult and
has remained undone. It would be necessary to record both failures
and successes - but fortunately there are plenty of the latter.
Probably no borough in England has progressed more than Stepney and
statistics illustrate this without comment.
The contrasts in environment are now greater than they were before
the war. Much in Stepney is now so new, so bright and so beautiful
that a highlight is thrown upon the few black spots which remain and
makes them appear all the darker.
Sure and steady progress is being made but the pace is scarcely
fast enough to satisfy those who, understandably, want things today
and not tomorrow. The evidence of improvement has increased
impatience and shattered resignation.
Looking at the statistics for 1936 and comparing them with I960
we find that the population has decreased from 207,800 to 93*650; the
number of inhabited dwellings from 37,237 to 25,934, and the density of
population from 110.7 per acre to 53.14, which indicates a considerable
decrease in overcrowding.
The death rate, 11.05 in 1960, is the lowest on record, and the
infant mortality rate, except for 1952, is also the lowest. The
reduction in the infant mortality rate is generally regarded as one
of the most reliable indications of social and economic improvement,
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