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24
The following table shows the number of births, the birth-rate, the
number of deaths, and the Infantile Mortality rate according to Wards.

As in previous years the relation of the birth, death, and infantile
mortality rates is fairly constant. Hoe Street, well-to-do, has a low
birth, death, and infant death-rate. High Street, with a considerably
higher birth-rate, has a low death-rate and a lower infantile mortality rate
than Wood Street. Wood Street, a mixture of very poor and well-to-do,
has a low birth-rate and a low death-rate, but a high infant death-rate
Contrast the infant death-rate with that of Hoe Street, and it can be at
once seen that poverty and ignorance must be important factors in this
rate Hoe Street had 24 deaths from developmental diseases, and 19
from diarrhoeal, while Wood Street had 22 and 23 with 156—or onefourth
of the total—fewer infants.
Had the babies in Hoe Street died as in Wood Street, 90 would have
perished instead of 68 as did actually. St. James Street, again, with
a considerably smaller child population than the Northern Ward, has
a much greater infant mortality.
This is partly accounted for by the semi-rural character of the
Northern Ward, its comparatively recent existence as a residential ward,
its distance away from the railway station, its less crowded condition,
and its higher elevation.