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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 the forty-first Annual Report on the health
and sanitary circumstances of the district.
This is the first year in which the full powers of Borough status have
been enjoyed by the Council and now at its close all relevant re-organisation
of the health department has taken place. Statistics continue to be kept
separately for the six wards and in a few years' time it is hoped that there
will be a body of information capable of assisting in the suitable provision of
services most required in each area.
The differences to be anticipated may not be significant as the social
conditions and general hygienic environment in each ward are similar, but an
analysis of the pooled statistics when available will afford answers to questions
which are at present mere conjecture.
The vital statistics show that the Registrar-General's estimate of the
mid-year population is now 51,560. This is of importance in so far as the
arbitrary level of 50,000 is fixed by several statutes as a minimum population
which entitles a Borough to enjoy certain powers. Southall has now passed
this standard and derives incidental benefits. The increase of population in
one year of over two thousand justifies laudible comment and gives re-assurance
as to the ultimate destiny of the district. The birth-rate has fallen slightly
to 15.79 per 1,000 of the population, but this figure is still considerably above
the general rate for England and Wales which in 1937 was 14.9. The crude
death rate of 9.19 and the comparable rate of 10.47 both compare very
favourably with figures for this country in general and also with figures for
analogous areas. The infantile mortality rate of 58.96 is a considerable fall
on the very high figure for 1936 and indeed is equal to the rate for the country
generally, but it fails to reach the admirable standard of the last preceding
years and efforts will be directed to reduce still further this figure.
The Midwives Act, 1936, made it incumbent upon local supervising
authorities to provide full-time municipal midwives and the Council under an
agency for the Middlesex County Council appointed in December five midwives
who commenced duties as whole-time servants of the Corporation. This direct
employment of professional women who attend mothers during the most
anxious times of their existence, and when they are making a supreme
contribution to the community, must strengthen that chain of social service
in which Great Britain is leading every country in the world. The death of a
woman in child-birth is, with few exceptions, a grave reflection on the maternity
provisions of any district, and it is a matter of experience that in those areas
where an adequate service of salaried midwives is available the maternal
mortality rate is well below the national average. The fees charged to patients
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