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died as a direct result of a home accident, some 10,000 of these being
children under five years of age. The age distribution of those who died
from an accident at home in 1954 was 0-4 years 12 per cent.; 5-14 years
2 per cent.; 15-44 years 6 per cent.; 45-64 years 11 per cent.; 65 years
and over 69 per cent. Four-fifths then of the fatal domestic accidents
occurred in children of under five years of age and in persons of 65 years
and over. The more frequent types of fatal home accidents were—falls
six per cent.; burns and scalds ten per cent.; coal gas poisoning ten per
cent.; suffocation nine per cent.; poisoning three per cent. The
coming into force of the Heating Appliances (Fireguards) Act, 1952,
was followed by the reduction in the number of fatal burning accidents
in the home. As these regulations refer, however, only to electric, gas
and oil heating appliances which are on sale and do not apply to those
already in the home, it must be some time before the full benefits of
the legislation are attained. Even then, of course, they will do nothing
to ensure the safety of the open domestic fire.
Deaths from Suicide
12 men and 9 women committed suicide during 1954. Seven of the
men and six of the women chose poisoning by coal gas, another four
(three males and one female) other forms of poisoning while two (one of
each sex) drowned themselves. There seems to be no set pattern of
distribution of these occurrences. In some years the incidence is fairly
evenly distributed throughout the year. This year there were four
suicides in May and another four in November, while there were four
months without occurrences. The ages of all but two were between 30
and 70, the exceptions, both males, being 21 and 85.
Deaths from Cancer
Of the 1,790 deaths of residents in this district 362 were due to
cancer, this causing 22 per cent. deaths of the males and 18 per cent,
deaths of the females.
Of the 196 deaths from this cause amongst males, in 71 the site was
the lung and in 29 the stomach. Of the 165 deaths amongst females, the
site was the breast in 39, the stomach in 23, the lungs in 12 and the uterus
in eight.
Although one type of malignant disease attacks the young, in general
cancer attacks most heavily those of more advanced years, but not the
very old. There is a period when a very large proportion of the deaths
is due to cancer, but once that stage has passed, cancer as a cause of
death is overshadowed by other factors. Of the males resident in the
district who died last year malignant disease caused the death of only
two under the age of 35. In the successive ten year periods, cancer
caused the deaths of two out of 29 who died between the ages of 35 to 44
(percentage 7) and 30 out of 111 who died between 45 and 54 (percentage
27). In the next age group 55-64, there was a further rise to 53 deaths
out of 182 (percentage 29). Although the figure in the next period rose
to 62, the percentage of the 245 deaths was only 25 in the age group 65
to 74. Then followed a fall in the actual numbers, and a much lower
percentage 15 of the 258 deaths in those of over 75 years.