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" The birth-rate of St. Luke is also highest of the 43 Sanitary
Districts, viz., 45'8 per 1,000 living ; the next- highest being St.
George's-in-the-East with 41.9, Whitechapel with 40-2, while the
Parishes adjacent to our own are considerably lower, Clerkenwell
yielding a birth-rate of 31 5, Shoreditch 33.6 and Islington 29-7
per 1,000 persons living. Now, it is a pretty well recognised
fact that the higher the birth-rate in a locality the higher the
death-rate, nearly 50 per cent. of children born dying before they
attain the age of live years ; during the year 1895, 591 children
died under the age mentioned out of a total of 1,216 deaths,
being at the rate of 48.6 per cent.
"Mr. Murphy's report dealt with the deaths of Infauts under
one year only, which are stated to have numbered 351 or 184 per
1,000 births. In Clerkenwell there were 399 or 192 per 1,000,
in Shoreditch 864 or 199 per 1,000, in Holborn 174 or 212 per
1,000 births ; so that in this respect St. Luke's will bear favourable
comparison with the surrounding Sanitary Districts.
" I may further point out that of the 1,216 deaths recorded in
St. Luke, 196 or 16.1 per cent, were of persons above 65 years of
age, also of the total number 401 or nearly one-third died
in Institutions outside the Vestry's area, and evidence is not
wanting to show that many bad been so located a number of
years.
" Iu reference to the prevalence of Infectious Diseases, especially
those affecting young children, it must be borne in mind that
about 8,000 persons or nearly one-fifth of our entire population
are boused in artizans' dwellings, such conditions being
eminently favourable for the spread of Infectious Diseases."