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43
APPENDIX NO. 1.
THE ANNUAL REPORT OF MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH,
From March 25th, 1887, to March 25th, 1888.
To the Chairman and Members of the Vestry of Rotherhithe: —
Gentlemen,
I herewith present to your notice the following matters pertaining
to the Sanitation of the parish, being a summarised account of the various reports
which have been regularly read to you at your meetings.
At the risk of appearing somewhat prolix: I take the following words from my
report for the year ending March, 1886. "The bases upon which the calculations
"embodied in the following report are founded, are first, the number of inhabitants
"in my last report, and secondly, the natural increase which has been registered from
week to week."
"I speak of natural increase, for it is not in my power to ascertain the increase due
"to the greater accommodation from the building that has been going on during the
"period of this report. This could only be got at by a fresh census. As I have
"not that basis to work upon, and as I would rather not make a guess as to what
"it might be, it will be more reasonable, though perhaps it may not be absolutely
"correct, to procecd upon the first method of calculation. Of course, this mode
"of procedure is open to one serions objection, that is, it is not a mathematically
"correct basis, but only shows an approximation to the total number of persons living
"in the parish."
This apology I am happy to say, is now no longer needful. I have been able
to ascertain the number of houses built since the last census; and what is of importance,
have at the suggestion of Shirley Murphy, Esq., and with your sanction,
obtained from Somerset House, a list of the number of parishioners who have died