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9
It will be seen from the above table that the death
rates in this district in the groups 1—2, compare
favourably with those for the county giving the lowest
rates, whereas those for groups 3 and 4 are considerably
higher.
It is probable that in group 1, owing to the cause
being due to parental defects, there is less chance of
amelioration than in the other groups.
Groups 3 and 4 are generally considered due to
improper food, and possibly much of group 2.
It should be stated that the high figure for this
district in group 4 is due to a disproportionately (17)
large number of deaths in 1906 affecting the small
total of 38 deaths in the five years' period, yet it is in
these groups 3 and 4 that a lessening of deaths may
be expected as mothers become better instructed in the
feeding and care of their infants.
With regard to 5 and 6—it is probable that the
marked difference between the figures for this district
and those for the Best County are due partly to the
earlier attendance of a doctor in an urban district,
enabling him to diagnose bronchitis or pneumonia as
due to measles or whooping cough, and so correctly
certify the death as due to one of these two infectious
diseases; and partly to the more ready spread of these
infectious diseases in a thickly populated district.