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3
To the Chairman of the
Southall-Norwood Urban District Council.
Sir,
I have pleasure in presenting to you my Annual Report
on the Health of the District for 1925.
The gross death-rate for the year is only 8.2, which is a
fall of practically one per 1,000 compared with last year.
I often wonder about our low death-rate which, for the
past five years, has ranged between about 7.9 to 9 per 1,000
of the Population. In a working-class population such as
ours, where there is a great deal of overcrowding, this low
rate is a puzzle which I have not yet been able to solve to my
satisfaction, but I think the main contributing factors are as
follows. In the first place, we have a young population ; but
a young population would not continue to show a low deathrate
for long, if the sanitary circumstances of the homes and
of the district as a whole were unsatisfactory. Taking the
homes, I should say that 99 per cent. are in a cleanly and
sanitary state. Further, the water supply of the district is
excellent, while the methods of dealing with sewage, refuse
and scavenging are exceedingly good.
We have unusually good provision for cases of infectious
disease, and the work done in the prevention of infectious
illness is very satisfactory. Again, our population is a sober
one; there may be plenty of drinking, but it has been said
by the local Bench that the charges of drunkeness are the
lowest from Southall than from any other district. Our
Population, therefore, live under unusually good circumstances.
It is a young one and sober, and housed under the
best conditions at present available, and it is to these factors