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4
Two decades The periods referred to are the two decades
of death rates. covered by the twenty years elapsing from 1891 to
1910, both inclusive; and the figures relating to the
death rates of each of these two decades supply, I
submit, ample evidence that a policy of sanitary
activity can be, and is, fully justified by the tale of
human lives saved or prolonged.
Reduced death
rates fortwenty years. If we take for comparison the general death-rate for the first of the twenty years under consideration,
i.e., 1891, we find this to be somewhere about 25 per
thousand. At the end of the first decade, i.e., 1900,
we find that this rate had been gradually pulled down
from 25 to 21 per thousand, whilst by the end of the
two decades, i.e., 1910, this has been further reduced
to the more satisfactory figure of about 16 per
thousand.
Death rate of If we take the Children's death-rate, i.e., under
children
reduced. five years of age, we arrive at, if possible, a more
remarkable rate of progress. In 1891, on the estimated
number of children, we find that this death rate was
about 75 per thousand. By the end of last year it had
been gradually reduced by regular steady rates each
year for the twenty years under review to 45.
Result of In other words we find as one of the many
activity. undeniable results of twenty years of keen enforcement
of Sanitary Measures, that the general death rate of
the district has been reduced by about 9 per thousand
or upwards of one-third of the former rate, whilst the
children's, or under five, death rate shows a decrease
of 30 per thousand, or three-fifths of its former bad
total.