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11
There were fewer cases of diphtheria and scarlet fever notified
in 1936 than in the previous year and the attack.rates were approximately
equal to those for the country as a whole. Only seven deaths
from diphtheria occurred during the year, the lowest mortality ever
recorded in the Borough, and there were only two deaths from scarlet
fever. As regards diphtheria, epidemic conditions in 1934, continuing
into 1935, gave for those years a total of more than 900
cases with 40 deaths; accordingly a proportion of the less protected
children were infected and this may be the reason for the lesser
prevalence this year since immunisation is too little adopted to
affect, to any noticeable extent, the attack or death.rates. There
have been no deaths of immunised children in the Borough.
The number of cases of tuberculosis notified for the first time
during the year was 249, the lowest figure previously recorded in
the Borough being 299 in both 1931 and 1934.
I wish to draw particular attention to the sections in this
Report dealing with the completion of the first five years' clearance
schemes under the Housing Acts of 1925 and 1930 which were first
contemplated in the year 1929, a conference being held in 1930 with
the County Council to decide as to the allocation of areas for
clearance by the County Council and Borough Council respectively.
The sections of the Report dealing with overcrowding and
rehousing are also of particular importance, as also are those relating
to the extension of the maternity and child welfare scheme and the
provision of specially constructed and equipped centres to take the
place of those now operating in church and other public halls used
for a variety of purposes.
The importance of the metropolitan boroughs, from the point
of view of population and the difference in the problems arising in
the various boroughs, is not appreciated owing to their combination
in the Administrative County of London. For instance, it is not
generally realised that the population of Hackney is larger than
26 of the 62 Administrative Counties of England and Wales;
larger, for instance, than such important counties as Cambridgeshire,
Oxfordshire, Cumberland and Herefordshire, and larger than
66 of the 83 County Boroughs in England and Wales, as, for
instance, Birkenhead, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bournemouth,
Brighton, Barnsley, Hudderslield, Northampton, Plymouth, Southampton
and Newport. In fact, the additional population that the
London County Council is bringing into the Borough from overcrowded
and cleared areas is equivalent to that of many important
urban district such as, for instance, Barnet, Bognor Regis, Cowes,
Leatherhead, Llandudno and Tilbury.