DOCTOR’S REPORT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20928, 6 January 1938, Page 10

DOCTOR’S REPORT

LONDON HAS MORE BABIES London’s birth-rate, which had been dropping steadily for many years, is now rising, says “The People.” Babies born in 1936 numbered 56.273, compared with 55,580 the previous year, reports Sir Frederick Menzies, L.C.C. Medical Officer of Health. This gives a rate of 13.6 per thousand compared with 13.3. A slight check, however, is given to the upward curve by an increase from 58 to 66 deaths of babies for every thousand born. Marriages registered numbered 44.479. equivalent to 21.5 per thousand of the population. Deaths totalled 51,142, just under half being those of women. This gives a rate of 12.3 per thousand compared with 11.4 in 1935. One of the out-of-the-way pieces of information in the report is the news that while the percentage of Scotsmen coming to London has remained the same since 1861—Irish immigration has dropped by more than one-half the 1861 figure, Welsh arrivals have increased to a corresponding extent, and foreigners have doubled their numbers.

Medical statistics given in the report show that there were 382 cases of foodpoisoning during the year, 154 cases of typhoid, but not a single case of smallpox, from which disease London has been free since June. 1934. Births continue to decline in France. Official statistics issued to-day show that there were 8.990 fewer births in the first six months of this year as compared with the corresponding period last year. There was a “slump" in marriages, 4,079 fewer ceremonies being performed The number of deaths fell by about 17.000.