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PREFACE
Public Health Offices,
Ilford.
May, 1931.
To His Worship the Mayor, the Aldermen and, Councillors
of the Borough of Ilford.
Me. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I herewith submit the Annual Report required by the Ministry
of Health and the Board of Education.
This is the Thirty-first Report which has been presented for
this district and is the Twelfth Annual Report which I have prepared.
The Ministry of Health have decided that quinquennially the
Annual Report should contain more detail and be more in the
nature of a Survey Report. The last Report of this character
was presented in 1925, and the arrangement of the accompanying
Survey Report is in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry
of Health.
I would point out that the Registrar-General has not made any
estimate of the population of the various towns for the past year,
and as suggested by the Ministry of Health, the Registrar-General's
estimate for the mid-year, 1929, has been adopted for the purposes
of the calculation of the birth-rate and death-rate. Until the
Census figures which are now in course of preparation have been completed,
it cannot be said how far the estimate of population is inaccurate,
but it is quite certain that in Ilford it is very much too low.
The figures given in the Report for the death-rate and the
birth-rate are, therefore, both higher than they should be.
There are certain very satisfactory features with regard to the
vital statistics in the area, to which I would call your attention:—
1.—The infant mortality rate of 33 is the lowest ever recorded
for the district. It is also the lowest of any district in London
or of the 17 towns in the outer ring of London. In the remainder
of England it is lower than any other town with a population of
50,000 inhabitants or over. The premier position to which Ilford
has attained in the campaign against infant mortality is
undoubtedly due to the way in which the Council has met the
demand for infant welfare centres, by increasing the number of
these centres as required, and by placing them in positions where