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Metropolitan Borough of Deptford.
Public Health Department,
Deptford Town Hall,
S.E. 14.
5th April, 1932.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Deptford,
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my third Annual Report upon the
sanitary circumstances, sanitary administration and vital statistics of
the Borough. In the absence of any means for obtaining accurate
knowledge as to the extent and nature of illness amongst the population,
it is customary, in order to form some general idea of the public health,
to take into account certain figures obtained from the birth and death
returns and infectious disease notifications.
The birth-rate, which had steadily declined to 15.9 in 1930, showed
a slight recovery in 1931, viz., to 16.3 per 1,000 population.
The death-rate in 1931, as compared with 1930, showed a slight
rise, viz., from 11.3 to 12.0 per 1,000 persons, a rise mainly attributable
to respiratory diseases. This increase was not manifested amongst
children during the first year of life, the death-rate amongst infants
having fallen to the relatively low figure of 53 per 1,000 born—a
record for the Borough.
The incidence of infectious disease generally showed some decline,
and the cases were mainly of a mild type with certain exceptions,
notably Diphtheria, which showed a raised death-rate.
In the section dealing with the sanitary circumstances of the
Borough, the work of the Sanitary Inspectors is outlined. During