View report page

23
the powers at present vested in the Sanitary Authority, and in
what direction that power is deficient, and could profitably be
strengthened by further legislation.
A few of the causes of this high mortality are, I am afraid,
irremediable, and hopelessly beyond the control of any Sanitary
Authority. Though aware of these conditions being beyond
our control, yet that you may gauge their relative importance,
I have recorded some of these, and shall briefly discuss them
first. They may be divided into 6 groups:—
1. Poverty.
2. Illegitimacy.
3. Overlaying.
4. Unhealthy surroundings
5. Hereditary Diseases.
6. Insurance.
I. Poverty.—On account of poverty and other causes, wives
work in factories, &c., even when pregnant. They are known to
work up to within a day or two of their confinement. These
conditions expose the mother to all sorts of risks, and very often
cause the child to be prematurely born. In 1898, 33 deaths
were registered as being due to Prematurity.
The following list will give you the length of time the child
lived:—
5 lived less than 1 hour.
6 „ from 1 hour to 24 hours.
9 „„1 day to 1 week.
9 „ „ 1 week to 1 month.
4 „ „ 1 month to 3 months.
33
This list does not include still-born children. But even
when the child is born at full term and healthy, it does not stand
a normal chance of surviving. The mother has soon to return
to work, and the child has of necessity to be brought up on
artificial food. This is not all, the mother cannot afford to pay
a proper person to look after the child, and very often it is placed
in the care of another child, who is probably only a few years
older. The risks to which a child thus placed is exposed are
obvious.