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4
SECTION A.
STATISTICS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS.
Area of district in acres 2,435,
Population at Census, 1931 39,980
Population estimated by Registrar General to mid 1936 49,780
Number of inhabited separate dwellings, December, 1936 15,240
Rateable value, December, 1936 £477,633
Gross product of penny rate. £2,016
Rainfall during 1936 21.97 inches
The borough still retains its residential character. No new industry was commenced,
and the increasing urbanisation is indicated by the fact that 1,370 new dwellings came into
rating during the year.
The amount of available building land has become comparatively small, but the erection
of flats continues.
Population.
The population estimated by the Registrar General to the middle of the year 1936 was
49,780. This compares somewhat closely with the figure 50,000, at which I had previously
estimated the population.
The increase in the population during the year compared with the Registrar General's
estimate for the preceding twelve months, was 3,070. As the natural increase in the population,
i.e., the excess of live births over deaths during the year 1936 was 212, the balance 2,858 consisted
of persons who had moved to Twickenham from other places.

The live birth rate showed an increase,of 1.0 per thousand of the population over the
corresponding figure for the previous year, and was 0.8 higher than that of 143 towns in England
and Wales with populations of comparable size. The number of still births registered was 25,
of which 22 were legitimate and 3 illegitimate. Assuming that the notifications in each case
were complete, one of every 34 legitimate babies was still-born, whereas the corresponding
figure for illegitimate babies was one in eleven. The proportion of illegitimate births was one
in every 23 of the total births registered.
Deaths.
)
Nett number of deaths 577
Increase compared with year 1935 110
Death rate (crude) per 1,000 of estimated population 11.59
Increase compared with year 1935 1.6
Comparability factor 1.02
Corrected death rate 11.8
The death rate was slightly higher than that of the preceding year, which was almost
the lowest on record.
The causes of death which showed the more marked increase were those associated with
middle and more advanced age. Thus cancer, heart disease, cerebral haemorrhage and other
diseases of the circulatory system caused an increased number of deaths.
This is a condition which must be expected in a population in which the average age of
persons living tends to become higher owing to the diminished number of children.
A more disappointing figure is an increase in the number of infants dying from prematurity
of, or debility from birth, although against this must be noted an increase of nearly one hundred
births.