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6
PREFACE.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit, in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry
of Health, the Thirty-First Annual Report on the Health of the Metropolitan
Borough of Woolwich.
The Report for 1930 was a very full report, and this year I have only dealt
fully with those local conditions which were not so dealt with last year and any
important changes which have taken place during the year.
A Census of the population was taken during the year and in the preliminary
report issued by the Registrar General the total population of the Borough was
given as 146,944. These figures were subject to amendment, and in a later report
the final figure was given as 146,881. The increase in the inter-censal period
amounted to 4p6 per cent. At the middle of the year the Registrar General
estimated the total population to be 147,400, of whom 4,800 were military. The
civil figure of 142,600 is that which is used throughout the report for calculating
rates, and the population of the separate Wards of the Borough will be found in
the body of the Report.
The birth rate was 15*1, as compared with 15'5 in 1930 ; the death rate was
116, as compared with 10"9 ; the infantile mortality rate was 59, as compared
with 42, and the neo-natal mortality rate (deaths under four weeks per 1,000 births),
was 28"77, as compared with 20T1. Maternal deaths numbered 8—the same as in
1930—the rate for the year being 3'7.
The Council's scheme of health propaganda is fully described in Section IV.
During the year a Health Services booklet, giving details of the Council's health
services was issued. It may be obtained, free of charge, by any inhabitant of
the Borough.