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63
Deaths from Natural Causes 11
Accidental 8
Deaths from Violence Suicidal - 1
Cause unknown - 1
In five instances the cause of death was uncertified
by medical testimony. In the absence of such certificate,
the cause of death must obviously have been registered on
mere conjecture. Such course of procedure, inasmueh as
it admits of the possibility of the occurence of these deaths
from other than natural causes, must be held to be highly
objectionable, and, for the welfare of society, demanding
legislative interference. Fortunately, the evil admits of being
easily obviated by the simple remedy of employing a
medical investigation in every case of death, the cause of
which has not been attested by a registered Medical
Practitioner. For security of life, and even if only for
consideration of convenience and economy, it is desirable
that such investigation should precede instead of following
(often too late) in the wake of the legal inquiry ; for if
the necessity for putting the law in motion were determined
by a preliminary medical inquiry, instead of the present
system of employing hearsay, and, therefore, untrustworthy
evidence for the purpose, the majority of inquests now
held could be dispensed with, to the saving of much
valuable time to the juryman, and much cost to the ratepayer.
(For further information on this subject the
reader is referred to previous reports).
Sanitary Proceedings.—Table 6 (Appendix) contains,
as usual, a brief summary of the principal sanitary proceedings
which were carried out during the year. It will
be seen with satisfaction that, with one exception, they
were all conducted without the necessity for interference
of the law. By a comparison of the figures in this Table
with those of former years, a much larger amount of work
of this kind will be found to have been accomplished than
heretofore, and is mostly observable in the number of inspections
of houses which is nearly double that of the