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and suggests that the infant's chance of surviving is substantially less if the mother is a laundry
woman. On the other hand the figures do not justify the conclusion that laundry work exercises an
adverse effect on the child during pregnancy, since the majority of the women employed in laundries
during pregnancy return to the same work after their confinement, with the result that their babies
have to be minded during the day by neighbours, whose methods of bottle feeding generally leave
much to be desired. Mention may also be made of the fact that in deaths from prematurity and in
still-births, which are necessarily due to ante-natal conditions, the occupation of the mother during
pregnancy appears to exercise no influence. Thus in the Table of occupations during pregnancy
the proportion of mothers engaged in laundry work is given under the three headings " Survivors,"
" Deaths from Prematurity," and " Still Births," as 13 per cent. in each case.
Having discussed the possible effects of two important factors on the infantile death-rate, it
remains to consider the part played by the various assigned causes of deaths in contributing to the
total mortality for the year. The deaths in 1911 have amounted to 435, and have exceeded the
number registered in 1910 by 90. The whole of this excess is accounted for by an increase in the
deaths from diarrhoea from 33 to 123, whilst measles and whooping cough together added 22 to the
number of deaths assigned to these causes in the previous year. Bronchitis and pneumonia accounted
for 63 deaths, 53 deaths were attributed to wasting diseases, and 41 to premature birth. The last
two causes of death will be considered here since they are peculiar to infants, but for an account of
the diarrhoea epidemic and of other diseases common to infants and adults, reference should be made
to the section of the report entitled the " Prevalence of Disease."
Premature Birth.—Premature birth was the assigned cause of 41 deaths, and of this number
11 occurred in children born of twin pregnancies. The association of twin pregnancy with death
from prematurity is no doubt one of cause and effect rather than coincidence. In regard to other
ani e-natal influences it has already been noted that the material available during the last two years
does not afford any grounds for the conclusion that the occupation of the mother during pregnancy
enhances the death-rate from this particular cause. The part played by illegitimacy would also
appear to be insignificant, since only three of the children who died from prematurity are known to
have been born out of wedlock.
In the following Table the deaths of 104 premature infants have been classified according to
the number of previous pregnancies in the mother, and for purposes of comparison a record has also
been given of the previous pregnancies of mothers whose infants survived. Illegitimate children have
not been included in the Table.

The figures show that out of 1,873 births at term, 32 per cent. were of children born from the
first or second pregnancy. Of the children who died from prematurity, the proportion born from
the first two pregnancies was considerably higher, and amounted to 38 per cent, of the total number.
[???] pregnancies after the fifth again contribute an unduly high proportion of premature births ending
in the death of the child. There would thus appear to be a distinct tendency for the first two
pregnancies and the pregnancies occurring after five previous conceptions to end prematurely in the
birth of children who die.