View report page

97
In previous years I have reported on the very unsatisfactory
state of North Woolwich as regards its vital "statistics.
There was formerly an excessively high birth-rate, death-rate,
infantile death-rate and diarrhcea death-rate. I attributed
these high death-rates largely to the fact of the high level of
the ground water, the want of protection of many houses
from ground exhalations, and the unsatisfactory state of the
sewers and drains which formerly existed.
During the last few years several of these conditions have
greatly improved. A new L.C.C. sewer was laid at a lower
depth about 1902. A large number of the house drains have
been relaid, and wherever damp walls or floors were found,
notices have been served and steps taken to have the sites
concreted and damp-courses provided. In order to test
whether these improvements have favourably affected the
health of North Woolwich, I have calculated some vital
statistics for the years 1910 and 1911, and the results are
appended. It appears that there has been a most marked
reduction in the death-rate and infantile death-rate, as also
in the birth-rate. In 1902-3 both these death-rates were
considerably higher than that of the Borough. In 1910-11
it is seen that the general death-rate, the phthisis death-rate,
and the tuberculosis death-rate are lower than in the Borough,
and that all the death-rates, with the exception of the diarrhoea
death-rates, are much lower than they were in 1902-3. 1911
was a year in which the conditions which produce a high
diarrhcea death-rate were worse than in the last 50 years,
and the fact that the diarrhoea death-rate was not more in
1910-11 than in 1902-3, as was to be expected from the hot
summer of 1911, is further proof of the great improvement
in the sanitary condition of this district.
G