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17
rate of death in Hackney has been very considerably below that
for all London, the average for the last 22 years being 239 per
10,000 for all London, and only 207 for Hackney. In 1867
the death rate for London was 236, and for Hackney 206 in
each 10,000 inhabitants. In making this calculation I have
excluded 73 deaths in the German Hospital, and 115 in the
East London Union from the mortality of Hackney, and added
on one death for each 623 inhabitants, which is the average of
deaths in hospitals for the whole metropolis. I have also calculated
that the population in the district was 108,419 on
July 1st., being an increase of more than 24,000 since the
census in 1861. There have been 5175 houses built since 1861,
the total number now being about 19,471. This, at the rate of
six persons to each house, which was the proportion in 1861,
gives a number closely approximating, indeed exceeding that
calculated as above.
This result is eminently satisfactory, because as I pointed
out in previous reports, we must not expect the comparative
death rate to remain so low for Hackney as in previous years,
because when the Metropolis Local Management Act was
passed, Hackney was in a much better sanitary condition than
the other east and north-east parts of London, so that there
was not so much room for improvement. The district also contains
now a much larger proportion of children of the working
classes, and also of poor, than it did in 1856 (as evidenced by
the increased poor-rates) amongst whom a greater mortality
takes place than in the rich and in their servants. The increased
rate of death in children under one year old also indicates a
great change in the social condition of the inhabitants, for
during the 10 years 1850-59 the proportion of children who
died under one year old was only 201 in each 1000 deaths, but
it was no less than 254 in 1868. It is true that this great