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REPORT FOR THE YEAR, 1878.
To the Board of Works for the Hackney District.
Gentlemen,
I regret to have to report a death-rate for this
year which is somewhat above the average, viz.: 20.2 per 1000
inhabitants, against 19.9 for the eight years, 1871-78, and 20.4
for the ten years, 1861-71; but the increase was not so large as
that for all London, where the death-rate was 23.5 against
22.7 for the previous seven years. The excess in Hackney, was
due partly to small-pox, but chiefly to diarrhoea, arising from the
hot weather; to whooping cough and scarlet fever, as well as to
a very slight extent from typhoid and other fevers. The increase
from small-pox was not large as there were 86 deaths from this
cause, against an average of 83 for the ten years, 1868-77; but
as this period includes the excessive mortality of 1871-72 (511
deaths) the average is far above the mean of the last twenty
years. Scarlet fever caused 123 deaths against an average of 93,
but this was scarcely to be wondered at because it was the year
during which the disease was expected to prevail, as four years
had elapsed since it was epidemic in this district. Whooping
cough also was very fatal, as no less than 135 deaths were
registered from this cause, against an average of 77. In this
respect we were no worse off than the rest of London, as a larger
proportion of deaths from this disease was registered in London
than for any other year since the Registration of Deaths was
commenced. The mortality from diarrhoea was also greater than
at any period since the cholera epidemic, so that it is no wonder
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