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TO THE VESTRY
OF
The Parish of St. fames, Westminster.
Reverend Sir, My Lord, and Gentlemen,
I beg to lay before you the Tables of
the mortality in the Parish of St. James, Westminster,
during the last year, and also a report of
the sanitary work done during the same period.
The remarks I have to make on these documents
will not be so extended on the present occasion as
in past years, as neither the death of the year nor
the sanitary arrangements present any remarkable
departure from the same records to which I have
had to draw your attention in previous years. The
only remarkable exception has been the occurrence
of small pox in the parish, which, as part of a great
epidemic in London, has led to more decided action
in regard to measures for the arrest of the progress
of this disease.
The first point to which I would direct your attention,
is the number of deaths in the year 1859.
According to the subjoined Tables, you will find
this is 764. This is a higher number than the
average deaths of the last four years; but it is
considerably below the average of the previous four
years, and below the average of the death in the
parish for the last fifteen years. The increase in