View report page

REPORT.
To the Vestry cf the Hamlet of Mile End Old Town.
Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit the Twenty-ninth Annual
Report upon the Public Health and Sanitary Condition of the Hamlet
for the year ending March, 1885. The Report is, upon the whole, highly
satisfactory. The number of births was within 82 the same as last year
(see Table I.), whereas the deaths were 350 less than the previous year,
and this with a continually increasing population, although I have based
the statistics upon the same population as before. Reference to this
Table will also show the number of births for each quarter, and of each
of the sexes, and the same for the deaths. The marriages were 99 less
than for the the previous year.
Table II. shows deaths from all causes comprised under 48 different
heads. There is nothing to note as to the prevalence of any special
disease, unless, indeed, we except the high rate of mortality connected
with the brain and nervous system generally, both in infant life and old
age,—the former too often an indication of generic feebleness, whether
from ill-assorted marriages or abnormal feeding and general careless
rearing; and the latter from wear and tear in the battle of life, added to
the proverbial disregard to those principles of living which are most
conducive to a "healthy life, the prolongation of life, and the enjoyment
of life,"—these are the great objects which those officially charged with
the promotion and maintenance of the public health and well-being
should seek to attain, and there is yet a vast and grand field to be
explored and developed in these directions; the means are simple
enough and easy of application, and the results would be incalculable
good to posterity. We have seen, in this district, what may be done in
the promotion of vital science through the efforts of the local Health
Authority, the death-rate of years back of 28 to 30 per 1,000 populationhas
been reduced to 18 to 20 per 1,000; based upon these figures, the
saving of human life, and suffering, and of money, all incalculable,
such results cannot but be encouraging to continued efforts in the same
direction. This latest annual review of the public health of the Hamlet
has added another proof of its being a healthy East London Centre,
comparing favourably with western and suburban districts, and also of
what may be accomplished by the diligent application of the laws for
the promotion of public health.