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4
I think that we must look for the very low rates of mortality
which have continued for some years.
The birth-rate for the year is unsatisfactorily low, being
only 15.95, which is practically the same as for last year. I
think the main cause of the low birth-rate is want of housing
accommodation. There are hundreds of young couples who
would get married if they could find houses or rooms to live in.
The Infant Mortality Rate this year is only 50.58, as
compared with 62.6 for last year. I have said for many years
that the ideal infant mortality rate for a population like yours
should be something like 50 per 1,000, but I never thought
that we could attain it. No doubt it will continue to rise and
fall in future under certain circumstances, but I now think
it is on a basis ranging between 50 and 80 per 1,000, as compared
with years ago of a basis ranging from 130 to 150 per
1,000 and over.
The decline in the number of infectious diseases has been
one of the most marked features of the statistics for the past
live years. We have never had a period in which the incidence
has been so small, and the large majority of these diseases,
viz. : Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria, have not been nearly so
severe or pronounced in their characteristic symptoms.
Whether in any future recrudesence of Scarlet Fever or
Diphtheria will revert to type cannot be said, but however
that may be, it is quite sure we shall be better able to control
their incidence than we can at present. For example, in the
case of Diphtheria, if this breaks out in a family, it is now
possible to say which members of the family are susceptible
or immune, and further, by simple and safe innoculations,
we can be practically sure that none of the contacts will
develop it. It is much the same with Scarlet Fever. It is