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ance at school to become the means of propagating diseases
which are attended with such great fatality, or, when
not fatal, otherwise tend by their morbific consequences to
lower the vital forces of the people. Looking to its great
importance I venture, therefore, to again draw the attention
of the Board to this subject by repeating a recommendation
made in my report for 1859, and in several subsequent
reports; viz.:— "That no children absent from school
"on account of sickness should be allowed to return to
"school except upon the production of a certificate from
"their Medical Attendant that they might do so with safety
"to themselves and others." A printed certificate to
this effect, requiring the signature only of the medical
attendant, is all that is needed to prevent an evil, the extent
of which is far greater than is generally supposed.
Sickness and Mortality amongst the Parochial Poor.—
The amount, nature, and fatality of disease which prevailed
amongst the parochial poor during the year is contained
in Table V., Appendix. The total amount which prevailed
was 23 per cent. less, and the resulting mortality 12 per
cent. less, than the average of the preceding ten years.
The amount of Epidemic disease was no less than 43 per
cent. and its attendant fatality 40 per cent. below the
average.
Amount of General Sickness.—The total amount of
sickness which has prevailed generally throughout the
Sub-district can be estimated only by assuming the proportion
which the deaths bear to the cases of sickness that
came under treatment amongst the parochial poor (and
which is accurately known) as the proportion borne by the
deaths to the cases of sickness amongst all classes. Such
an estimate, although approximate only, becomes valuable
as a means of comparison with a similar estimate of
previous years. By such a calculation it appears that the
total amount of sickness which prevailed generally, could
not have been less than 59 per cent. of the population;