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St. Olave, and some portions of Lambeth, the death rate was considerably
higher. In the Waterloo Road Districts the rate of
mortality from fevers was nearly double that of St. Saviour.
These facts, lamentable in themselves, are still calculated to
encourage those who are interested in the preservation of the public
health, as they tend to confirm and establish those sanitary laws
by which alone health can be preserved. The causes of disease
and death are only partially under human control, and therefore,
notwithstanding the full operation of the most prudent regulations,
results will be variable. Still it may be safely affirmed that if
public bodies charged with the duty of cleansing, draining and
purifying the streets and houses of the Metropolis, efficiently perform
that duty, disease and death will be kept at their lowest
point. In comparing the deaths of the past year with the five
years preceding, it will be seen that the number is larger than it
has hitherto been my duty to record. The deaths in the years
1856 to 1861, inclusive, were respectively as follow:—868, 920,
1,047, 996, 929, 1,066. The average for the six years being 971,
the past year was 95 in excess of the average. During this period
the population of the Parish of St. Saviour has diminished, and
that of Christchurch increased, but in the whole District there has
been a gain. It should be observed that the loss of population in
St. Saviour has been chiefly from among that class against whom
it is seldom necessary to enforce sanitary regulations; and that
while the house accommodation of the western portion of the
District has very considerably diminished, the population has
increased. It is in this locality that death from epidemic diseases
have been most numerous. In Christchurch alone, with a population
smaller than that of St. Saviour, 48 of the total of 72 died
from scarlet fever, being exactly double the number of deaths in
the smaller parish. This result might have been predicted from a
consideration of the laws regulating health. Disease and death
inevitably follow as the effects of the foul atmosphere of overcrowded
dwellings. If to this cause be added intemperance,
insufficient food and clothing, and that want of cleanliness, which
to some extent is unavoidable in such circumstances, any other
result should excite surprise.
A complete demonstration of this relation of cause and effect is
supplied by a comparison of the mortality among children in the
poor and overcrowded districts of London with those less thickly
populated, and by the wealthier classes. In every hundred persons
who die in England 39 are children under five years of age. In
London the proportion is forty in a hundred. But if particular
localities are selected, it is found that this per centage suffers considerable
variation. In St. Saviour's District it is about 41 per
cent.; in St. George in the East about 44 per cent., and in St.
George, Hanover Square, about 31 per cent. The mortality of
children under five years rose to 50 per cent. in your District
during the past year. This waste of human life appears almost
incredible, and does not permit a doubt that there must be