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5
HEALTH AND SANITARY CONDITION OF
THE ENTIRE DISTRICT.
The near approach of the census of 1881 renders the
Report, comprised in the succeeding pages, unsatisfactory
from a statistical point of view, owing to the great uncertainty
in estimating the population of this district. It
is very obvious that the rate of increase prevailing before
the last census (1871) was considerably lower than that of
the succeeding years, and that the official estimate founded
upon the former can give us no satisfactory datum upon
which to calculate the birth and death-rates of the latter.
We therefore present our figures with no great confidence
as to their accuracy, but with the firm belief that they
will prove, in every instance, to be an under rather than
an over estimate of the rates they represent. The population
in the middle of 1879, according to the official estimate,
is 171,900. The year 1879 was distinguished for
its unusually low temperature, and its continued and
heavy rainfall. These two characteristics produced their
effect upon the mortality of the year. Epidemic diseases,
on the whole, were not in excess of previous years and in
particular cases (e.g. Diarrhoea) unprecedently low; but
the loss of life from diseases of the Respiratory Organs
was, as might be expected, heavy, and largely contributed
to the increase in the death-rate of the district, which we
shall have occasion to observe below.