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cases of pneumonia. Cases of the various infectious diseases were fairly numerous, a
large proportion being phthisis or consumption; influenza, measles and diarrhœa were
also common complaints. Nearly 300 persons sought treatment for various forms of
rheumatism, and 200 for disorders connected with the nervous system. Cases in
which various disorders of the digestive system, chiefly dyspepsia were recognised,
were common. Diseases connected with the locomotive system were not quite so
numerous as last year, still, they caused 148 persons to seek treatment. The
commonest cause of trouble in these cases was ulceration of the legs. Skin diseases
were the complaints in 117 cases, and 119 cases were due to injury. The cases
diagnosed as cancer numbered 31, as compared with 33 in 1900, 18 in 1899, 9 in 1898,
15 in 1897, 21 in 1896, 15 in 1895, 27 in 1894, and 23 in 1893.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
The various infectious diseases, numbered 1 to 35 in Table V (see Appendix),
caused 762 deaths, or 29.3 per cent. of the total number of deaths from all causes.

From the above table it will be seen that deaths from infectious disease were
proportionately much more numerous during the first year of life, than during any
age period subsequently. This is the result of infantile diarrhoea and tuberculosis
mainly. Measles, whooping-cough, diphtheria, diarrhoea and tuberculosis are the
chief causes of the heavy mortality during the age period 1 to 5 years. Altogether,
of the 762 deaths from infections diseases, 416 were of children under five years of
age. After the age of five years the deaths become markedly fewer, until a
minimum is reached during the 10 to 15 years age period. For the next ten years
deaths from infectious diseases are somewhat higher, but on the whole they are not
numerous. Then follows a rise in the numbers reaching a maximum in the 35 to 45
years period. This rise is the result of the mortality due to phthisis or consumption
of the lungs, the commonest form of tuberculosis. The deaths are still numerous in
the next age period, but after that they again fall off in number. Up to 75 years
phthisis or consumption remains the commonest cause of death amongst infectious
diseases, after that age, diarrhœa. There were no deaths of persons over 85 years of
age registered as due to any of the infectious diseases.
Deaths from small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, including membranous
croup, whooping cough, enteric fever and diarrhoea numbered 349, and the deathrate
due to these diseases, usually termed the zymotic death-rate, was 2.9 per 1,000