[Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Mossley Borough.

  • Mossley (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Mossley Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    BOROUGH OF MOSSLEY. HEALTH DEPARTMENT. FEBRUARY 28th, 1910. TO THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE HEALTH COMMITTEE. Gentlemen, I have the honour of presenting you with my fourteenth Annual Report. The number of births registered during the year 1909 was 298, 152 males and 146 females, a decrease from the number in the previous year which was 323. There were 7 illegitimate births registered but no deaths of illegitimate children under 1 year of age, as compared with 8 births and 5 deaths in 1908. The birth rate for the year was 21'3 per 1000 population, a decrease from the rate in the two previous years which was 233 and 22-7 respectively. The number of deaths was 218, 93 males and 125 females, a large decrease from the number in the previous year which was 243. A large number of these, viz. :—66 were of aged people over 65 years, and this compares with 72 in 1908 and 49 in 1907. The general death rate was 15'6 per 1000 population as compared with 17*5 in 1908 and 15'3 in 1907. The natural increase at the end of the year being the excess of births above deaths was 80 as compared with 80 in 1908 and 101 in 1907. There were 12 deaths from zymotic diseases, 3 less than in the previous year, there being 2 due to Measles, 2 Scarlet Fever. 2 Whooping Cough, 1 Diphtheria, 3 Diarrhoea. This gives us a zymotic death rate of '86 per 1000 population as compared with D08 in 1908. The district is a very hilly and straggling one covering nearly 4,000 acres, there is a great deal of clay subsoil and consequently a continual dampness, which latter quality aids in the spinning of cotton, which is the chief industry of the place, woollen weaving and a small amount of iron founding being also done. None of these are particularly injurious to the public health, though there is still room for improvement in many of the card rooms in the mills in the shape of exhaust fans to clear the air of dust which in some cases causes Asthma in people continually working in them. House accommodation for the working classes is very fair, there being very few under houses, and back to back ones, though there is room for improvement in the area at the back of many rows of cottages, and common to all, which might be paved or tiled with a distinct benefit to the sanitary state of these places. Cottages with three bedrooms are badly wanted. There are a few crowded places but the general surroundings of the cottages are clean and it is seldom we are without wind. All plans of new houses are examined by the Surveyor and passed by the Council before they are erected, and on completion the premises are examined by the Surveyor, all drains tested and certificates granted.