View report page

17
The deaths from diarrhœal diseases which is the heaviest
item in our infantile mortality as a rule, were comparatively
few last year, probably owing to the fact that in the middle
of the month, when diarrhoea appears with great regularity,
the weather was cooler than usual and the rainfall was good
viz., 2½ inches for the month.
With regard to this subject, evidence is accumulating to
show that the common house-fly plays an important role in
the causation of diarrhoea. Carrying germ laden filth on its
proboscis and legs it contaminates the milk or other food of
the children, and in milk it is well known that germs multiply
with extraordinary rapidity especially at a warm temperature.
It is not generally known that the breeding place of the
house-fly is manure, especially horse-manure. This points
to the necessity of enforcing, especially in the summer
months, the regulation which requires that manure pits shall
be emptied once a week and be kept properly covered.
The influence of diarrhœa as one of the most important
factors in our infant mortality has been dwelt upon fully in
past reports, but there are many other causes from which
large numbers of infants die every year.
A large proportion of them are preventable and the children's
lives could have been saved by attention on the part
of the parents to the elementary principles of the laws of
health. Many of the children who survive their illnesses
suffer much in after life as a result of this neglect, growing
up weakly and stunted.
With the object of diminishing this mortality and physical
deterioration, I wish to bring to the notice of the Council,