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Report of tbe Medical Officer of Health.
Public Health Department,
35, Brunswick Square, S.E. 5.
May 31st, 1930.
The Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The following report on the state of the Public Health of
Camberwell which 1 have the honour to present to you has been
prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Sanitary
Officers Order, 1926, and follows the directions of the Ministry of
Health as to the contents and arrangement of the matters referred
to therein.
The death rate for the year was 13.6 per thousand of the
estimated population, as compared with 11.9 in the previous year.
This increase is due to the number of deaths from influenza as
well as respiratory diseases which occurred during the spell of
abnormally cold weather in February and early March of last year.
The mortality of infants under one year of age also shows an
increase, from 61 per thousand registered live births in 1928 to 68
for the year under review.
The birth rate for 1929 was 15.3, which is the lowest rate
recorded since the last year of the war.
An outbreak of mild smallpox occurred in Camberwell, as in
most other districts in the Metropolis, during the year. Every
administrative measure of control was adopted to limit the spread
of the disease and to prevent it assuming epidemic proportions.
The sanitary circumstances of the area, the sanitary administration
and the vital statistics of the district are dealt with in their
respective sections of the report.
Important changes in the future health administration of
London were indicated with the passing into law during the year
of the Local Government Act, 1929.
This Act, which came into operation on April 1st last, has
secured, by the abolition of the functions of the Boards of Guardians
and the Metropolitan Asylums Board and their transfer to
the London County Council, a partial adjustment of the more or
less haphazard distribution of health activities amongst the public
authorities in London. This unification of control will enable the
Central Authority to rearrange the functions of the various
a