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10
Deaths at different Ages.
I can onlv state the number of deaths at the two
extremes, viz., under one year and above GO years.
There were 598 deaths in children under one year of
age, and 480 in persons above 60 years of age, so that
of the 2165 deaths, one-half occurred at these two extremes
of age.
Pure Air, Open Spaces and Play Grounds.
Clauses 5 and 12 of the Artizans' and Labourers'
Dwellings' Act, of last Sessiqn, will I think give power
to the local authority, under special circumstances, to
provide open spaces, and it is earnestly to be hoped
that such power will be acted upon wherever opportunity
occurs, after demolition of large blocks of houses, that
the areas may be retained as open spaces or play
grounds. Much has of late been said for their necessity,
and some little has been done in providing or securing
them about the metropolitan suburbs, places practically
inaccessible to the inhabitants of tho densely populated
central districts, but the absolute necessity that they
should be provided in the centre of every densely populated
district has not yet been realized : every year adds
to the difficulty and cost in providing them, while it is
equally certain that at a not very distant period increased
knowledge of sanitary matters among the
general public will demand their provision, as the most
valuable and common sense bases for the promotion and
maintenance of public health in a human hive like
London.
The atmosphere of London is contaminated from so
many sources, both by its respiratory consumption and
tho addition of deleterious matters, that we should at
least use all available means to keop it wholesome and