Voluntary Institutions' Administration To-day

in the past two years has presented a problem, because its infant life has become less safe. The factors which caused such a reduction of births after 1931 had little influence in the rich area; and it is in this area that the recovery in the number of births since 1934 has been most marked. These features may be partly due to the increasing population of the rich area, though it is not clear that the increased infantile mortality is connected with this factor. In the poorer two-thirds of Belfast the degrees of poverty do not appear now to be directly correlated with infantile mortality; though when the depression was worse, infantile mortality was higher in the area now classified as "poor" than in that classified as "inter-mediate." It may be that the concentration of health services upon the most markedly poor areas has made these areas as safe for infants as the intermediate areas. Registrar-General show that for all Belfast there has been a marked improvement in the number of persons per house and per room. Some improvement appears to have been made in each area. 3. Exact figures are not computable for the individual areas. I AM TOLD that as a child I talked early, and with considerable fluency, quite unembarrassed by any suspicion of self-consciousness. This was a childish characteristic which I regret that I lost at a comparatively early age, and when six odd weeks or so ago I optimistically promised to address you at this opening meeting of the hospital session, my pride was effectively tempered by the realisation that I would have to stand before you and say soImle-thing that at least sounded intelligent.