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in two cases by manslaughter, viz.: female, aged 40, injuries
by a kick, and female, aged 27, whose throat was cut; two by
suffocation, viz.: infant, aged 5 months, in bed with parents,
and infant, aged 5 weeks, "how or under what circumstance
there is no evidence to show;" a female, aged 65, died from
internal hemorrhage due to violence, but how caused is not
known. These violent deaths were equal to 3.7 per cent, on
the total deaths, the proportion of violent deaths in the parish,
as a whole, being 3.5 per cent. Inquests were held in 15 cases,
viz., in the above 7 cases of violent deaths, and in 8 cases of
deaths from natural causes. The inquests were in the proportion
of 8 per cent, on total deaths, the relative proportion of
inquest cases in the parish, as a whole, being 8.2 per cent.
The vital and mortal statistics for 1897 do not, unhappily,
show any improvement on those for 1896, as the following
summary indicates :—
1890. 1897.
Births 142 130
Birth-rate 38.0 32.5 per 1,000 living
Deaths 187 223
Death-rate 50.0 55.7 per 1,000 living
Infantile death-rate 432 431 per 1,000 births
Zymotic death-rate. 8.0 6.3* per 1,000 living
The deaths were 45 in excess of the births in 1896: in 1897
the excess of deaths was to the number of 93 : the 223 deaths
in 1897, moreover, were 36 more than the number (187) in 1896.
The facts with respect to the 223 deaths (males 97, females 126)
in 1897, are as follows :—First as to the ages of deaths. Fiftysix
children died in the first year of life, and 35 between the
ages of 1 and 5. The deaths under 5 years (91) were in the
proportion of 408 per 1,000 deaths from all causes, as compared
with 342 in the parish as a whole. Between 5 and 20 years,
the deaths were 13 ; between 20 and 60 there were 89 deaths ;
* The Zymotic death-rate in 1896 was three times as great as in the parish as a
whole; in 1897 it was more than 3 1/2 times as great.