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Metropolitan Borough of Deptford.
Public Health Department,
Deptford Town Hall,
S.E. 14.
10th April, 1935.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Deptford.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my sixth Annual Report upon the
sanitary circumstances, sanitary administration and vital statistics of
the Borough.
The estimated population for statistical purposes is 101,380 and
based upon this figure, the birth and death-rates per 1,000 of the
population were 15.8 and 13.1, compared with 14.8 and 12.1 for the
year 1933. The first two quarters of the year showed a high mortality,
the increase being chiefly in respect of infectious diseases of early
childhood, diseases of the circulatory system and cancer.
The infantile mortality rate was 68, and the maternal death-rate
3.0—the latter rate being calculated upon 1,000 total (live and still)
births. Regarding infectious disease the most important increase
compared with 1933 was in respect of Diphtheria, which towards the
end of the year evinced itself in a more virulent form. Only one
case of Small-pox was notified.
The work of the Sanitary Inspectors continues to be of the same
high standard, and their increasing vigilance is largely responsible for
the maintenance of a satisfactory sanitary environment, both in the
workshop and the home. Considerable time was necessarily spent in a
more intensive inspection of houses in certain parts of the Borough.
As a result eight areas were represented to the Council as Clearance
Areas.