View report page

10
INFANT
MORTALITY.
Neither is it necessary to again refer in detail to the important
question raised by the continued high rate of infant mortality,
a rate which is common to most districts in London, Bow included.
This year, the deaths of infants under one year amounted
to 250, as compared with a total number of deaths of 855.
According to the annual table published by the "Lancet" the deaths
of infants under one year in London amounted to 160 to
every thousand births, the proportion in the Eastern districts
being—Shoreditch 180, Bethnal Green 170, Whitechapel
141, St. George's 154, Limehouse 176, Mile End Old Town 157 and
Poplar 176. In the Bow district the number per thousand was 170.
If, however, we include the number of children who died between one
year and five years, the total is brought for the year in Bow to 421,
or nearly half the total number of deaths from all causes. These
figures incidentally reveal a condition of things upon which I
animadverted in my last annual report, and when we have this annual
loss of life concretely illustrated in this manner, the need for more
stringent laws to protect infant and child life is manifest. In the
House of Lords, Earl Denbigh has re-introduced his Infant Life
Protection Bill, which last year met with such opposition from various
insurance companies and friendly societies. In several important
respects, the measure has been modified, but its object, that of
preventing suffering and saving life, is the same. All those who have
any knowledge of this dark side of life must wish this measure a
successful passage through the two Houses of Parliament. Those
who are brought into daily contact with the working classes, not only
in the East of London but elsewhere, do not need the education
provided by occasional shocking revelations in baby farming cases to
understand how cheaply infant life is held by many, and how utterly
unsuited a considerable percentage of men and women are to take
upon themselves the responsibilities of parentage.
OFFICIAL
TABLES.
The following tables are prepared in accordance with the directions
of the Local Government Board, and they give amongst
other information the details of the various diseases that
have occurred during the year, the mortality from all
causes at different ages, the infectious diseases notified, and the total
deaths from all causes: —