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28
Last year I was able to record a similar low-water mark in
our death-rate, which was then the lowest hitherto recorded.
I was disposed to ascribe it largely to the exceptionally wet
weather which characterised the year 1903. This year being an
exceptionally dry year, a different explanation must be sought.
A comparison of the deaths from particular causes confirms the
view expressed last year. Whereas the deaths from diarrhoea then
amounted only to 84, this year they reached a total of 146, and
this, although furnishing a rate well below what has been experienced
in previous years, is a characteristic index of the type of
season thus reflected in a particular death-rate. Diarrhoea is a
disease of hot, dry seasons.
CAUSES OF DEATH.
The chief saving of life has been in respect of the deaths
ascribed to measles, whooping cough, pulmonary affections and
diseases of the nervous system, as shewn in the following table:—

The deaths from pulmonary affections bear a distinct relation
to those from measles and whooping cough. Whenever either
measles or whooping cough is rife the deaths from bronchitis and
from pneumonia increase. This is due to the fact that medical
aid is sought only when the complications of these infectious