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I now proceed to make a few observations with regard to each
of the above-mentioned diseases, leaving small-pox to the last.
Measles.—The deaths were 32, and less than half the corrected
decennial average, 76: all but 5 were recorded in the first half of
the year, and 23 took place in the Town sub-district. The deaths
from this cause were 39 in 1883, and 76 in 1882, the same as the
decennial average. In the natural course of events, we may
reasonably expect an enhanced mortality from measles in the
course of the present year, or in 1886. In many of the fatal cases,
some intercurrent disease, of the respiratory organs commonly, a
complication of the original malady, was the immediate cause of
death. Comparatively little care is taken by parents among the
poorer classes to prevent the spread of measles; it is not regarded by
them as a very serious complaint, but considered to be as inevitable
as teething, and they reason that it is less trouble in the long ran if
all the children in the family have the complaint at one time. It