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4
To the Chairman and Members of the Urban District
Council of Teddington.
Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present for your consideration my
Ninth Annual Report upon the work of the Public Health
Department for the year 1917.
The Local Government Board's further appeal for economy
in, and limitation of Annual Reports, necessitates a similar
curtailment of this Report as last year.
The table dealing with the causes of death has been
amended in accordance with the Board's instructions, with a
view to the saving of labour in compilation and to ensure
statistical uniformity.
I am pleased to state that, on the whole, the Sanitary
condition of your district is satisfactory.
The Birth Rate has further declined and is lower than it
has been since the year 1898, showing a percentage of 17.5 per
thousand of the population, last year's figure being 20.7 per
thousand.
I attribute this further decrease to the following two
causes:—
(1). The large proportion of women who are filling
the labour market, and
(2). The prevailing reluctance that exists to undertaking
the responsibility of Motherhood, largely
on account of the high wages to be earned
under War conditions.
The Death Rate of 131 per thousand of the population
shows an increase as compared with last year's figure of 10.7,
but I would point out that although there is this increase, your
District is more or less uniform with the statistics for the
smaller towns of the United Kingdom of similar population.