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101
Respiratory Diseases.
Under this heading are included bronchitis, pneumonia, pleurisy,
and other diseases of the respiratory organs.
The number of deaths registered was 328. Of these deaths 69 were
children under one year of age, 46 over one and under five years, and
96 were persons over 65 years of age.
Bronchitis was most severe in the East and North Wards.
Broncho-pneumonia, pneumonia of all forms were also more severe
in these wards and accounted for more deaths than any of the
other wards.
Influenza.
This disease, which is an infectious one, accounted for 24 deaths
during the year. Nine of the deaths occurred between the ages of 25
and 65, and ten of the deaths were of persons over 65.
There were 7 more deaths from this disease than in the previous
year.
Constitutional Diseases.
These diseases form a group which are only second in importance
to those known as the epidemic diseases. They include rheumatic
fever, rheumatism, rickets, diabetes, gout, anaemia, and other defined
diseases.
During the year they caused 1,116 deaths.
Cancer and Malignant Diseases.
One hundred and twenty-one deaths from cancer and malignant
diseases were recorded during the year. They were equal to a death
rate of 10.9 per 10,000 of the population, which is 0'2 above the rate
recorded in the preceding year, while the actual number of deaths
were 4 above that year's figure. When comparison is made with
the mean return for the preceding ten years it is found that they are
27 in excess.
This group of diseases continues to show an uninterrupted increase,
and, indeed, an examination of the figures proves that whereas there
were only 482 deaths in the five years, 1902 to 1906, there were 516
in the years 1907-1911, or an increase of nearly 7 per cent.