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than half that of High Street Ward. The death rates, as printed, are
calculated upon the estimated populations at the middle of the year
1913, and in order to avoid the possibility of error arising from
faulty estimates, the Ward death rates were re-calculated upon the
Ward Census figures for 1911, with the result that the rates retained
the same relative positions and the same actual amounts within a
small decimal figure.
Without going minutely into detail, it may be said generally that
since 1902, when the smallpox epidemic was exceptionally heavy in
the southern part of the Borough, the death-rate of Plaistow Ward,
with one or two exceptional years, has been steadily declining, while
that of High Street Ward has shown no such tendency.
The character of the populations does not differ so markedly as
to account for the disparity in the vital statistics, and although the
High Street Ward contains a relatively larger number of old houses
than Plaistow it would be quite unjustifiable to endeavour to explain
the disparity by an appeal to the housing conditions. Nor, indeed,
do the actual figures warrant an alarmist propaganda. The difference
alluded to is probably the result of several influences acting with
varying intensity over varing periods of time, many of which are
sufficiently obscure to pass unnoticed.
There is, however, one characteristic in which these two wards
are glaringly dissimilar, namely, in facilities for medical aid. The
Plaistow Ward has for many years contained within its borders two
general hospitals and our own Fever Hospital, as well as being the
centre from which the chief operations of the Plaistow Maternity