Aug. 16.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2195

Constitutional Diseases.—The mortality from this class was high in the four centres in July, being 24·19 per cent. of the total deaths, against 19·52 per cent. in the year 1905. During the current year it has been greater only once—25·60 in April. The number of deaths was 52, of which cancer caused 21 (3 at Auckland, 5 at Wellington, 8 at Christchurch, 5 at Dunedin); phthisis, 20 (6 at Auckland, 5 at Wellington, 1 at Christchurch, 8 at Dunedin); and other forms of tuberculosis, 7 (2 at Auckland, 2 at Christchurch, 3 at Dunedin). Included in the deaths caused by phthisis are those of a boy at Wellington and of a girl at Dunedin, both 14 years of age. Tubercular meningitis was fatal in the case of a child of 16 months at Dunedin. Other causes of death in this class were gout (1), anaemia (1), and diabetes (2).

Developmental Diseases.—These caused 24 deaths in the centres, 18 being from senile decay and 6 from premature birth.

Local Diseases.—113 deaths resulted from diseases in this class. Of these, diseases of the nervous system caused 23; of the circulatory, 33; of the respiratory, 26; of the digestive, 19; of the urinary, 10; of the reproductive system, 1; and of the organs of locomotion, 1. Of the respiratory diseases, bronchitis was fatal in 10 cases (2 each at Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, and 4 at Dunedin), and pneumonia in 11 (3 each at Auckland, Wellington, and Dunedin, and 2 at Christchurch), including those of 4 children under 1 year old—1 at each centre. There were 2 deaths from appendicitis belonging to the order “Diseases of Digestive System.”

Violence.—Under this head are included 13 deaths resulting from accident or negligence and 2 by suicide. Burns were fatal in 3 cases, and misadventure in the administration of chloroform in 1. A labourer was killed in Dunedin while under the influence of drink by a tramcar, and a carter fell off a dray in Wellington and was fatally injured. Of the other accidental deaths, 1 each was caused by fracture of skull, fall while at play causing septic nephritis (a boy of 8), fracture of thigh, drowning, difficult birth, trampling on by a horse, and suffocation owing to an obstruction in the trachea (a girl 3 years old). The suicides were both by shooting, 1 in Auckland and 1 in Wellington, the latter being that of a man suffering from an incurable disease.

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 July, 1906.

• Subject to revision. † Includes suburban boroughs—Invercargill East, North, and South, with Avenal and Gladstone.

Registrar-General's Office, Wellington, 14th August, 1906.

E. J. VON DADELSZEN, Registrar-General.