View report page

The Central Home has certified accommodation lor 1,807
persons, which includes medical cases. The actual available
accommodation on 31st December, 1937, was 1,599, viz.:—790
men, 803 women and 6 children. The number of able-bodied
persons in the home on 1st January, 1937, was 673, and
the number on 31st December, 1937, was 628.
Table IV. gives further details of admissions to the institution
exclusive of medical cases which are dealt with elsewhere.
National Health Insurance. The total number of insured
persons in the borough under the National Health Insurance Acts
on 1st January, 1938, was 123,569, as compared with 123,681 on
1st January, 1937. The number of doctors, including their
assistants, who were on the panel at the end of the year 1937 was
179, and the number of prescriptions which were dispensed during
the year was 632,340. The corresponding figures for 1936 were
178 and 626,439.
METEOROLOGY.
There is no meteorological station in the borough, but the
area is sufficiently near to the Greenwich Observatory to enable
complete reliance to be placed upon the records of this station.
Table V. gives a climatological summary for the year 1937
for the station, and for this information I am indebted to the
Director of the Meteorological Office of the Air Ministry.
Data for use with the Table. Greenwich Observatory—
latitude 51°, 29 seconds north; maximum temperature relates to
the interval 24 hours to 24 hours (G.M.T.); the minimum temperature
refers to the similar interval; the rainfall is based on 24
hours period to 9 hours; the earth temperature to a similar period
ending at 12 hours; and the other observations relate to the
6 hours period from 15—21 hours.
The site of the rain gauge above sea-level was 1.9 feet. The
height above ground of the following instruments was:
thermometer, 4 feet; sunshine recorder, 50 feet; rain gauge, 5 feet.
The normals used were:—(a) mid-temperature—period 1906—
1935; (b) rainfall—period 1881—1915; (c) sunshine—period 1906—
1935.
34