View report page

Heart disease in one form or another was, as always, the chief cause
of mortality, 173 deaths being attributable to this group of diseases.
Of these 173, 88 were caused by coronary disease of the heart.
Tuberculosis accounted for 8 deaths. This is 4 more than in the year
before, but is still only one third of the mortality prevailing a few years
ago. Of the 8 deaths, 7 were males with an average age of 70 years. In
this connection it is of interest to note that the report of the Royal College
of Physicians on "Smoking and Health" states "Since the introduction
of streptomycin and other drugs that are effective against tuberculosis,
the rate of decline of death rates has been rapid and rather fewer new
cases have been notified; but this favourable trend has been much less
marked in elderly men. The continued high toll in this age and sex group
in which heavy smoking is most likely to show its effect, is the most
striking feature of recent tuberculosis statistics."

The distribution of tuberculosis mortality by wards and other details
are given in Section F of this report.
Again for the fifth successive year there was no death from any of
the notifiable infectious diseases other than tuberculosis.
Twenty-six residents met their end from violent causes. They were:—
Road traffic accidents 9 (all male)
Multiple injuries 2
Fall 4
Burns 1
Asphyxia 1
Suicide 9
Inquests
Inquests were held on 48 persons who died in the district. The
following verdicts were returned:—
Accidental death
Accidents 12 Misadventure 5
Road Traffic 14 Suicide 7
Falls 4 Natural Causes 5
Burns 1
Twenty-two of the total were residents of the district.
15