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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Borough of Southall.
MR. MAYOR, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
I have the honour to present my third Annual Report on the health
and sanitary circumstances of the district.
The report covers the first two months of the change from an Urban
District to a Borough. As far as the services administered by the Health
Department are concerned, no alteration whatever is produced by the change
of status. In anticipation however of the Charter being granted, and the
consequent revision of the wards of the area, statistics were kept during the
year 1936 for the six different wards instead of merely for the north and south
sides of the district. These statistics are shown in the body of the report.
In a district such as this where there is a felative homogeneity of the population,
ward statistics may not be of such great value as in a district in which the
wards differ greatly in their rateable value, in the number of houses to the
acre, and in overcrowding and slum areas. Further the ward populations are
too small to give any significant differences year by year, but over the course
of several years it is possible that significant differences, such for example as
the infantile mortality rate or the incidence of tuberculosis, may become
apparent and this may help considerably in the formulation of administrative
schemes.
The vital statistics show that in the middle of 1930 the population of
the district was estimated by the Registrar-General as 49,550. This shows an
increase of 1,280 on the previous year, but as the number of dwellings in the
district according to the rate book has increased by almost 1,000 it is possible
that the Registrar-General has slightly under-estimated the present population.
In 1930 the Birth Rate was 16.09 per thousand population (against 1(5.70 in
1935 and 16.25 in 1934). The slight increase noted in the previous three years
has therefore turned into a slight decrease, but the rate is still above the average
rate for England and Wales. The crude Death Rate was 8.55 per thousand
population (against 8.25 and 7.49) but this slight rise is probably not of
significance as there will be a tendency to a rising death rate as the population
ceases to expand rapidly and thereby the average age slightly increases. The
infant mortality rate showed an unwelcome rise in 1930 from 47 per thousand
births to 66 per thousand births. This rise is due in most part to factors
probably at present outside our control and is further discussed on page 17
of the report.
The new maternity services, such as provision of a midwife in necessitous
cases, provision of a home help, and provision of accouchment sets, which
were introduced at the end of 1935, expanded rapidly during 1930. The whole
question of domiciliary midwifery as it affects both the health department and
local midwives has been altered since the passing of the Midwives Act, 1936.
This act is one of far-reaching importance as it allows for the first time the
seeds of an efficient maternity service (as far as midwives are concerned) to
be planted and nurtured. The rate of growth and the degree of efficiency of
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