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REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH.
TO THE VESTRY OF THE PARISH OF ST. MARY ABBOTT'S,
KENSINGTON, IN THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
Gentlemen,
But few preliminary remarks are required in presenting to yon
my Second Annual Report. The 109th clause of the Metropolis Local
Management Act, requires that the reports presented during the year
by the Medical Officer of Health, should be printed and circulated
with the General Statement relating to the Vestry, and I have received
instructions from the Sewers and Sanitary Committee to lay before you
an abstract of the mortality of the past year, with an account of the
proceedings taken for the removal or abatement of Nuisances, and for
the improvement of the Sanitary condition of the Parish generally. I
shall pursue this year the plan I adopted in my first Annual Report, of
closing the mortality accounts on the 31st December, as this
will prevent any inconvenience arising from a want of relation between
my own tables and those of the Registrar General. By adopting
this plan I am also following the example of other Health Officers.
It is a matter for sincere congratulation that we have completed
the year without being visited by any serious epidemic, and also
that the rate of mortality has been absolutely lower than in any of the
four preceding years. The past may therefore well be termed a
healthy year, as far as our own Parish is concerned.
According to my calculations, based on the known decenial increase
of our population, I estimate the total number of persons living in the
Parish to be 56.000. Another proof that this estimate is pretty
correct may be formed from our rate books, which show that there are
9000 inhabited houses ; and as we know that in our Parish seven
persons inhabit each house, as an average, the number above stated
is sufficiently accurate for all purposes of comparison.
The total number of deaths registered, during the year, was 1197;
of this number 114 occurred in the Consumption Hospital, all except
5 were strangers availing themselves of the benefit of the
charity; 5 deaths were registered from the Cancer Hospital—all nonparishioners.
By substracting therefore the large number of 114, the
mortility of our parish will be at the rate of 19.3 per 1000 per
annum. The rate of mortality in the whole Metropolis, for the same