H.—3l.

While for the first four months of the year 1902 the death-rate per thousand in Auckland is— a - Auckland and Suburbs. City. Average of Four Oantras Average per 1,000 per month ... 1-28 1-42 1-()T es, It is evident that the. city itself is largely responsible for this higher rate. Closer examination also shows that it is in infant mortality that the unfavourable comparison is found Excluding deaths under one year of age, the results read as follows :— -IQOQ Auckland. Average of Whole Four. IBQQ '" ■" ■" ••• ° 97 8 94 ••• ••• ... ... B'2o 8-97 Auckland, has on the whole, a lower death-rate for those above the age of one year. Infant Mortality. Deaths under five years of age in 1900 in Auckland and suburbs formed 36-22 per cent of the total deaths in that district, while in the other three centres the average was 24-01 of the total deaths. As regards death under one year to one thousand births, we find as follows :— 1 „ Auckland and Suburbs. Average in all Three Centres. )H 8 q 15-10 10-90 14-17 11-78 1 900 12-78 8-70 Excluding the suburbs the mean for the last five years of deaths under one year per hundred births is 10-05 for Auckland City, while the average in the other three cities was" 10-85 By thus considering the rate of deaths to births we eliminate the factor of increase which the higher birthrate of Auckland would give, yet the same disquieting results remain, the infant mortality approaching that of England and Wales (16 per hundred births), and being out of all proportion to the general death-rate. r r Death from Zymotic Disease. The general death-rate from zymotic disease all over the colony for the five years ending December 1900, is 10-26 per thousand population. For the last three years the Auckland figures are as follows: 1898, Auckland and suburbs, 117 deaths; total for the four centres 304--percentage of total contributed by Auckland, 37 per cent. In 1899, Auckland and suburbs 110 • total or our centres, 360: percentage for Auckland, 30-8. In 1900, Auckland and suburbs 93 : total for four centres, 214 : percentage borne by Auckland, 42-7. Thus the zymotic death-rate in Auckland is much higher than in the other centres, being an average of 36 per cent, of total deaths trom zymotic disease; while the population is but little over 25 per cent, of the total The chief zymotic diseases are, first, diarrhoea; second, influenza; third, • fourth, typhoid ; adding to the general death-rate of the colony in the order given. ° ' Diarrhoea—ln the last three years 155 deaths have been registered in Auckland and suburbs through this cause, the total for the four centres being 204 ; thus Auckland's share amounts to as much as 41 per cent. _ Enteric Fever or Typhoid.—ln the last four years forty-six deaths from this cause have been registered in Auckland, as against fifty in the other three centres, Auckland's share in this case being 48 per cen .of the total In 1900, however, there was a fall, the same number being registered in Auckland as in Wellington—this year being the lightest death-rate over the whole colony from enteric for the last ten years. Whooping-cough and Influenza present no features of striking interest. There has been no deatn from whooping-cough in the past two years in Auckland. Deaths from Causes other than Zymotic Disease. There is little comparative value in these diseases, deaths from tubercle being in Auckland slightly below the average of the other centres. Statistical Details of the Past Four Months. During this period the same high infant mortality and zymotic death-rate is observed in Auckland, and is 01 special interest as referring to the summer season, when the zymotic diseases are most rife. Of the total deaths from zymotic disease from December, 1901 to April 1902 Auckland was responsible for 60-5 per cent., while 30-6 per cent, of the deaths under five years of age during these months were registered in Auckland. Of the total deaths in Auckland for this period 42-75 per cent, were among children under five years ; while in the other three centres the average was 25-7 per cent The actual numbers were 117 deaths among children under five years of age in Auckland, and of these 62-7 per cent, were due to diarrhoea, gastritis, enteritis or other inflammatory conditions of the digestive tract. It is evident then that infantile diarrhoea is the principal cause of the higher death-rate in Auckland. Telluric conditions are generally considered to have an influence on these diseases, and a loose porous soil with much organic pollution is the factor which sanitary authorities are agreed on as favouring the outbreak This is exactly the position of affairs in Auckland, and indicates the need of reform in drainage and refusea The appearance during the last few months of a form of dysentery hitherto unknown in Auckland has been commented on in several of my monthly reports, and is of interest in the light ot the above statistics.

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