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49
MEDICAL OFFICERS REPORT.
TO THE BOARD OF WORKS FOR THE ST.
SAVIOUR'S DISTRICT.
Gentlemen,
I beg to submit to you my Annual Report for the year
ending December 31st, 1897.
I base my statistics on a combined population of 21,945,
that of St. Saviour's being 11,931, and of Christchurch 13,014!
These are the figures I am compelled to arrive at according to
the law of a decreasing population, though from the peculiar
circumstances of the district they can only be considered as an
approximate estimation of the total numbers residing therein.
The widening of the South Eastern Railway has largely contributed
to cause this decrease.
During the year under consideration the births in the St.
Saviour's sub-district amounted to 412, of which 214 were
males and 198 females, while those in the Christchurch subdistrict
amounted to 350, of which 178 were males and 172
females, making 702 births for the whole district. This gives
us a birth rate of 30.54 per 1,000, which is practically the same
as last year. The birth-rate for the St. Saviour sub-district is
as usual higher than that for Christchurch, being 34.53 per
1,000 compared with 26.89.
During the same period the number of deaths in the St.
Saviour sub-district amounted to 192, of which 110 were males
and 82 females, while in the Christchurch sub-district there
were 222 deaths, 122 being males and 100 females; to these
have to be added 11 cases of death occurring in the Christchurch
Workhouse, making a total of 425 deaths actually occurring in
the district. Of these 15 were deaths of non-residents on
whom inquests were held, while of the Workhouse deaths J
were those of persons belonging to other districts.
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