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stages the disease is curable, arrangements should be made for
the treatment of the patients at a Sanatorium.
In July, 1905, an agreement was entered into between the
Council and the Managers of the Mount Vernon Sanatorium,
whereby the Council contributes towards the maintenance of
three beds.
Five patients were admitted into the Sanatorium during
the year.
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The mode of calculating the Infantile Mortality demands
a word of explanation. The method usually adopted, and
followed here, is to calculate out the ratio of deaths of infants
under one year to the actual number of births during the year
under consideration. Under certain conditions, a more accurate
plan would be to calculate the ratio of deaths in the current year
to the number of births in the latter half of the preceding year
and the former half of the current year.
To work out the infantile mortality as the ratio of deaths
under twelve months to the total number of deaths registered,
would be misleading and unfair to those districts that have
a high birth rate.
There were 172 deaths of infants under one year of age—
162 deaths were registered in the district and 10 occurred
in public institutions beyond the district. The 172 deaths
correspond to an infantile mortality of 112 per 1,000 births. In
1905, the infantile mortality in England and Wales was 128 per
1,000; in the 76 large towns it was 140 per 1,000, and in the 141
smaller towns it was 132 per 1,000.
With the exception of 1903, the infantile mortality of 1905
is the lowest recorded in the district, and it is 30 per cent. below
the average rate for the ten years 1895-1904. The death rate
has diminished most markedly in the later age periods. On
Table 5 are given the deaths from stated causes, in weeks and
months, under one year of age. An examination of that table