BRITONS OF TODAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 132, 1 December 1938, Page 9

BRITONS OF TODAY

TfjiEY ARE LIVING LONGER

Sir ] Arthur MacNalty, Chief Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health, reviewipg in his annual report the progress] made towards a healthier Britain, | states that last year maternal mortality was the lowest ever-record-ed, tree birth rate was the highest since 1932, ; and tuberculosis deaths were only half the average for 1910-20, says the "Daily Telegraph and Morning Post." Thfe expectation, of life is well known to have increased greatly since the earlyf years of the last century. Sir Arthjur illustrates graphically the tendencnr ofr greater numbers of "men of pensionable age" to be found nowadays in pmblie life. He writes: "qf the ten statesmen who obtained the <pffice of Prime; Minister in the first thirtjy-eight years of the nineteenth century}, five were under 50. Of the eight whof did so in the corresponding part of tlhe twentieth centur ynot one was under 50. "Hut," he adds, /'septuagenarian statesmen or captains of industry do now - statistically bulk largely in the d^ath registers." (The Prime Ministers, under the age of 50 were Henry Addington, took office 1301, aged 44; William Pitt, took office 1804, aged 45; , Lord Grehville, took office 1806, aged 47; the Earl of Liverpool, took office 1812, aged 42; and Viscount Goderich, took office 1827, aged 45.)

Sir Arthur contrasts conditions existing in Britain 100 years ago with the present day. Then diseases "rioted uncontrolled throughout England." Now, diseases which require a particular environment for their propagation have, with the exception of typhoid, almost disappeared. Those spread by personal contact remain, . but ceaseless vigilance and vastly-improved medical and public/ health measures have helped to reduce mortality figures. Referring to the strong medical and public interest which has been aroused in recent years by maternal mortality, Sir Arthur states: "The figures for 1937 show a fall to a rate of 3.13 per 1000 total births, the lowest ever recorded in England and Wales. The number of mothers who died last year was 1988, and was for the first time below 2000. Had deaths occurred at the same rates as in 1934, 84 more mothers would have died." There was again a slight rise in the death rate, but the number of births registered was 610,557, an increase of 5285 on 1936, which represents a birth rate of 14.9, the highest since 1932.