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PREFACE.
To the Chairman and Members of the
Merton and Morden Urban District Council.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my report for 1946.
It is very gratifying to be able to put before you such a
satisfactory picture as this year's annual statistics present.
This year, the second post-war year, shows evidence of the
remarkable recovery in our vital statistics. In fact the recovery
is national as well as local.
The year 1946 is a year of records as far as public health
statistics go. Our population at 73,590 is the highest ever
recorded, higher by 7,500 than the previous highest which was
reached in 1939. Our births this year number 1,292, an absolute
record, with a natural increase—that is excess of births
over deaths of 693—again a record. To complete the outline
of this very satisfactory picture we can point to the maternal
mortality rate of nil and an infant mortality rate of 22 per
thousand live births. The latter, again a record.
An increasing number of our births are taking place in
hospitals and maternity homes. Actually, 923 out of a total
number of births of 1,292 or 71.5 per cent. There is a table
on page 10 showing the growth of this tendency.
The total number of deaths was 568, giving a death rate
of 7.7 per thousand population as compared with 8.5 per
thousand population for England and Wales as a whole.
As regards infectious disease, there has been nothing noteworthy
during the year. Measles assumed epidemic proportions
with 568 cases, and consequently continued to maintain
an annual incidence of over a hundred eases, as in the past
five years. There were only 9 cases of diphtheria, one more
than in 1944 which was a low record.
It only remains for me to express my sincere gratitude
to the members of the Council and the staff of the department,
with whom I share responsibility for the public health work
in Merton and Morden, for their unfailing enthusiasm and
support.
I am, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
A. W. JOHNS.
September, 1947.
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