Sept. 18.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2095

Specific Febrile or Zymotic Diseases.—Twenty-five deaths from diseases belonging to this class were registered during August as occurring at the four chief cities and suburban boroughs—viz., 4 at Auckland, 17 at Wellington, 2 at Christchurch, and 2 at Dunedin—against 15 in July. Of the deaths in August, 11 were from measles complicated with pneumonia, all at Wellington, the victims being returned troopers from South Africa. Scarlet fever caused 1 death at Christchurch, influenza 1 at Auckland, and whooping-cough 1 at Wellington. From enteric fever there were 4 deaths—2 at Auckland, 1 at Wellington, and 1 at Christchurch; and from diarrhoea 2 children and 1 woman of thirty-two years died at Wellington. To syphilis 2 deaths were attributed (1 at Wellington and 1 at Dunedin).

Dietetic Diseases.—There was only 1 death in this class—a gardener, sixty-two years of age, dying from alcoholism, at Auckland.

Constitutional Diseases.—Deaths from these numbered 38 in August: 19 of them were due to phthisis and tuberculosis, and 10 to cancer; and it is perhaps worthy of note that 1 death, that of a labourer aged seventeen years, was caused by that somewhat rare disease hæmophilia. Of the 8 remaining deaths in this class, 2 were due to diabetes, and 1 each to rheumatic arthritis, leuchæmia, tubercular meningitis, pyonephrosis, and peritonitis, and 1 to tabes mesenterica.

Developmental Diseases.—Of the 29 deaths in this class, 12 were due to premature birth or malformation, and 17 to old age.

Local Diseases.—In August these totalled 141, against 126 in July—26 being from diseases of the nervous system, 31 from heart-disease and other diseases of the circulatory system, 52 from bronchitis, pneumonia, and other diseases of the respiratory organs, 18 from diseases of the digestive system, 7 from diseases of the urinary system, 5 from diseases of the reproductive system, and 1 each from caries of shoulder and ecthyma.

Violence.—Of the 14 deaths registered, 11 were returned as accidental and 3 suicidal. The accidental deaths were—2 fall or kick from a horse, 2 burns, 2 birth accidents, and 1 each from fall of earth, crushed skull, tetanus, suffocation (overlain), and intestinal obstruction. One of the suicides was by shooting, 1 by cutting of throat, and 1 by drowning.

Ill-defined and not-specified Causes.—Ten of the 11 deaths in this group were attributed to marasmus, and in 1 case, that of a child two days old, the Coroner’s jury returned an open verdict of “Found dead.”

The subjoined table shows the mortality for the last two months at each of the four centres from six principal specific febrile or zymotic diseases, and also the deaths from certain inflammatory diseases of the lungs. These causes of death have been distinguished from the others of the classes to which they belong as being the most important special diseases which give rise to sudden increases in the death-rates of towns, and the prevalence of which is closely connected with sanitary condition and climatic influence of the season on health.

RETURN of the Number of Births, with the Actual Mortality of Males and Females, and the Proportion of Deaths to Population, in the undermentioned Boroughs, during the Month of August, 1902.

*At the census taken in March, 1901, the population of Invercargill and suburbs was 10,637 persons.

Registrar-General’s Office,
Wellington, 9th September, 1902.

GEO. DRURY,
Deputy Registrar-General.