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whether the loss has to be recorded to one or the other group. For some
years now these losses have been classed under the term of peri-natal
mortality, a rate which is calculated as the number of stillbirths and deaths
under one week combined per thousand total live and stillbirths. The
rate for this district for last year was 26.4 comprised of 11.6 the early
neo-natal rate and 14.8 due to stillbirths. The corresponding figures for
1960 were 30.4, 12.2 and 18.2.
Death of Infants one to five years of age.
Six infants of one year of age died. Four suffered from respiratory
trouble and two from infections, four other children died after reaching
their second but before reaching their fifth birthday.
Maternal Mortality.
One death occurred as a result of pregnancy, being due to toxaemia
which developed about the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy.
Deaths from Accidents.
The three main causes of deaths from accidents are those on the
road in which a motor vehicle is mostly involved, a variety of deaths
occurring in the home, and falls. Apart from those falling in one of
these categories, accidents caused seven deaths, of which two were from
drowning and two were on the railway.
Deaths from Falls. Of the twelve deaths from falls, seven were
the result of falls of elderly persons occurring in their own homes or in the
institutions in which they were living. The other five were mostly of
younger persons at work or at recreation.
Road Accidents. There were twenty-five deaths of local residents
during the year from road accidents. Eleven fatal road accidents occurred
locally, though not all to local residents.
The local figures of road accidents (excluding those not affected by
layout or conditions of highways) for last year were again slightly higher
than in the previous year. The monthly average of accidents was 45.5
(main roads 34.0, other roads 11.5). Of the monthly average of 62.5 of
the injured, 52.6 were slight (37.6 on main roads, 15.0 on others), and
10.0 serious (7.2 on main roads, 2.7 on others). There were five fatalities,
tour being on main roads and one on other roads.
Accidents in the Home. The local deaths from accidents in the
home last year included seven of persons who died as the result of a fall
when in their homes or institutions in which they were living; all were
over seventy-seven years of age. Six adults, three of each sex, died from
consuming poisons. Nine adults, three men and six women, died from
coal gas poisoning.