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doubt that the mortuary rate of 25.2 per 1000, obtained
by the first method of calculation, is altogether erroneous.
There is nothing to shew (apart from this)
that Peckham is more unhealthy than St. George's;
there is much to render it absolutely certain that its
population is largely in excess of 58,852, on the basis
of which this high mortality was obtained; and, in
fact, there is no reasonable doubt that the larger
estimate of population, and the lower estimate of the
death-rate are approximately true.
I have made the above calculations and the above
suggestions as I have made them for several years
past, with a gradually increasing sense of insecurity
and doubt. For as year by year has elapsed since
the last Census was taken, disturbing influences have
been at work in the Parish to interfere more and more
with the trustworthiness of my calculations. Next
year the Census will again be taken, and it will be
interesting in my next Annual Report to compare the
estimates which I have ventured upon with the result
of the actual enumeration which will then be made.
If we look at the ages at which deaths took place
in 1879, compared with the corresponding statistics of