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To His Worship the Mayor, the Aldermen, and Councillors
of the Borough of East Ham.
Gentlemen,
I beg to present the Annual Report on the state of the Public
Health and the record of sanitary work carried out during the
year 1914, with reports on the Isolation Hospital and Bacteriological
Laboratory.
The Report to the Education Committee is also included,
together with an account of the work done in connection with the
Medical Inspection of School Children and School Clinic.
It is pleasing to note that the Borough occupies a very
satisfactory position in regard to its Mortality Statistics, the
death-rate being as low as 10.4 and Infantile Mortality 77.
I wish to express my thanks to the members of the Council
for the support they have extended to me, and especially in having
taken over the cost of maintenance of the Infants' Clinic.
This work is very necessary in a district such as this. The
fact that so many children found at the Medical Inspection of
School Children to be suffering from various diseases which might
have been prevented by Medical advice in early life, makes it
the duty of the Public Health Authority to take steps to prevent
this, so that children arriving at school age will be better able
to benefit by the education provided.
The Local Government Board, I am pleased to note, have
recognised the value of this work and are prepared to make grants
to the Local Authorities who undertake the work.
It is a matter of regret that delay has occurred in the scheme
for extension at the Isolation Hospital.
The increase in the number of Scarlet Fever cases is partly
accounted for by the fact that I have not been able to give the
necessary amount of cubic air space, thus causing overcrowding
and further, having no discharge block, the patients must be
bathed on the morning of discharge, and although the patient
may have been free from discharges from the ear and nose (in