Dr. Prendergast, of H.M. 65th Regiment,
be republished for general information.

Dy his Honor's command,
ALFRED GREENFIELD,
Clerk in Superintendent's Office.

1.—ON THE BEST TEST OF THE CLIMATE OF A COUNTRY.

The Climate of a country can be tested in
various ways, but the amount of sickness and
death which occurs among the human race
living in it is now looked on as the most valu-
able of all tests, for a country is of little import-
ance for colonisation, even if food grows fast,
so long as the climate causes those who cultivate
it to decay. The comparison I have made in
this, and more particularly in my first paper,
between the health of troops in different coun-
tries, is the nearest approach we can have to a
correct standard of measure, because British
troops in all colonies are about the same age,
have the same quantity of food served out to
them, have the same medical attendance, and
are called upon to perform nearly the same
amount of labour. It may happen that some
local circumstance may injure the fairness of the
comparison, but this test is more free from
error than any other. There is one important
point to bear in mind, it is, that a civil popu-
lation in the prime of life will suffer less sickness
and death than a military. The reason is ob-
vious. The life of a soldier is an unnatural
state of existence, he is deprived of much of his
natural sleep when on sentry, and the want of
occupation interesting to the mind makes him
more intemperate than civilians; and from
sleeping in apartments crowded with human
beings, he respires, for at least during eight
hours out of the twenty-four, an atmosphere
loaded with the most unwholesome of all poisons
to the human frame, namely, human effluvia.
With these preliminary remarks, I shall now
proceed to the more immediate object of this
paper.

2.—EVIDENCE OF THE CLIMATE DRAWN FROM THE HEALTH OF THE TROOPS.

During the years ending March 1851, 1852,
and 1853, the mean annual strength of the
troops stationed in New Zealand was 1,340 men,
and the aggregate strength 4,020. The con-
clusions drawn from them are applicable to the
whole North Island, because during the above
three years

510 men were stationed at Auckland,
451 " " at Wellington,
221 " " at Whanganui,
149 " " at the Bay of Islands.

The average age of the troops was twenty-six
years, and the men had been on an average
upwards of four years in New Zealand. As
peace reigned between the European and Native
population, none of the troops were harassed
by active service; their employment was simply
what is called Garrison Duty.

Rate of Mortality among the Troops.—During
the three years ending March, 1853, thirty-two
men died from disease. This gives an annual

48

mortality of eight men per thousand; and as in
the United Kingdom sixteen men died annually
from disease out of a thousand infantry soldiers,*
it results, that residence in New Zealand saved
the lives of eight men annually out of every
thousand.

Let us now see in what class of disease this
saving of life occurred, a point which will be
clearly ascertained by an examination of the
following table.

TABLE NUMBER 1, showing the Total Ad-
missions into Hospital among the Troops in
New Zealand, and the Total Number of
Deaths from the undermentioned classes of
Diseases,† during the Three Years ending
March, 1853, together with the proportion
which these Admissions and Deaths bear to
what occurred among Infantry Soldiers in the
United Kingdom during the Ten Years sub-
sequent to 1837.

By glancing the eye over the four right hand
columns of the above table, it will be seen that
the chief saving of life in New Zealand occurred
in the comparative low mortality from diseases
of the lungs and fevers, a result which I cannot
pass over without remark.

The cause why fevers are not common in New

• Report on the health of the troops in the United Kingdom
  from 1837 to 1847, presented to Parliament by Her Majesty's
  command, 1853.
  † In every regiment, there are a few deaths which occur
  out of Hospital; these are often not included in the Medical
  Returns, but in this table I have included all deaths from
  disease, whether the event occurred in or out of Hospital.
  The fatal diseases are recorded after a post mortem exami-
  nation, one case only required to be altered. It was entitled
  consumption with aneurism. The immediate cause of death
  was the rupture of this aneurism, and the lungs were sound,
  consequently this case was removed out of the list of fatal
  cases from diseases of the lungs.