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diminution is considered in conjunction with the rapid increase of population it is still more significant. In 1890 the population was 31,021, the attack-rate being nearly 4 per 1.000 ;in 1891 it was 3 per 1,000; in 1892, 5 per 1,000 ; in 1894—one year after the installation of the drainage scheme —2-9; in 1896, 2-2. Since that year it has gradually decreased, until in 1902 the attackrate was only 06 per 1,000. This, it must be remembered, applies to the Hospital statistics only, and if it had been possible to obtain the record of the number of cases that occurred in the city there is little doubt that the diminution would be still more striking. Diarrheal Diseases (excluding Typhoid). Eighty-seven deaths from diarrhceal diseases were notified in the district. Of these, seventytwo occurred in children under five years of age. In Wellington City alone nineteen deaths occurred at this age-period. Tubercular Diseases. The following deaths occurred from tubercular disease : Tabes mesenterica, 10 ; tubercular meningitis, 19 ; phthisis, 118. The death-rate from phthisis in the city was a large one, no less than fifty-eight deaths being recorded, showing that one death in nine was due to this disease, or if all tubercular diseases are included the proportion amounts to one death in eight. Only 169 cases of tubercular disease were notified in the whole district during the year. Of course, this is not naturally in proportion to the number of deaths registered ; but the Department has decided not to rigorously enforce notification, provided that the medical man in attendance is satisfied that all possible precautions are being taken to prevent the spread of the disease. A certain section of the public are inclined to look upon a person suffering from phthisis as a species of pariah. For this reason it has been considered better to leave notification largely to the discrimination of the practitioner. Wellington City. Population, 45,419 ; birth-rate, 2529 ; death-rate, 12-58 ; deaths from infectious diseases — typhoid 6, phthisis 58, other forms of tubercular disease 12, diphtheria 2, scarlet fever 4, measles 46. If the sanitation of the city has not been improved during the past year, it is certainly not due to the want of thorough and systematic inspection. Besides those made by the Inspectors in the employ of the Corporation, no less thanßßo inspections were made by the Department. These inspections revealed nuisances and defects of varying kinds, which with few exceptions were promptly rectified. This satisfactory state of affairs is almost entirely due to the good understanding which exists between the executive officers of the Corporation and the Department. There is now none of that divided authority in the sanitary administration of the city which has in the past been so harassing to the public and annoying to the officials concerned. Until the beginning of September, the Inspectors of the Corporation and of the Department performed their duties independently of each other. -This practice led to much confusion, annoyance, and loss of time, for on occasions, and within a short period, the same ground would be gone over by Inspectors under the two distinct authorities. Naturally, a householder who had been reproved in the morning by a Corporation Inspector for a breach of the city by-laws did not like to be rebuked in the afternoon by a departmental Inspector for a breach of the Public Health Act. In a similar manner, confusion arose in carrying out disinfection. Disinfection at the best is not a pleasant process, and some householders object to have their premises disinfected twice. On the absurdity of the position being represented, the Corporation decided to allow the Department the services of two of its Inspectors. This decision was most opportune, for at the time the epidemic of fever was at its height and it would have been difficult for either the Corporation or the Department to do independently all that was necessary to cope with the epidemic. The arrangement worked very well. With four Inspectors available (two municipal and two departmental), inspection and disinfection were carried out promptly and, there is every reason to believe, efficiently. The Department suggested that the arrangement should be made permanent. Finally it was agreed that the Corporation should undertake all sanitary inspection and disinfection, and remedy all nuisances notified by the Department or otherwise. The Corporation also agreed to place the services of any of its Inspectors at the disposal of the Department when they were required by the latter for any special purpose. The Department agreed, on its part, to undertake the inspection of infected houses, to make arrangements for the removal of infectious cases to hospital, and to furnish the Corporation with a monthly report upon the general sanitation of the city. This system is working well, and is likely to work admirably. I take this opportunity to thank the Mayor and Town Clerk for their cordial assistance, and for their many valuable suggestions relating to the sanitation of the city. Hospital Accommodation. Two hundred and seventy cases of scarlet fever, or a proportion of 48 per cent., were admitted to the Hospital during the year. The want of sufficient hospital accommodation was very often acutely felt, and it is not too much to say that had such accommodation been provided the epidemic would not have assumed such proportions. Some two hundred of the 486 stricken houses contained less that five rooms. It is, of course, next to impossible to isolate infectious cases in such houses, and the only chance of preventing the disease spreading to the other inmates lay in the prompt removal of the patient to the Hospital. Unfortunately this could seldom be done. It is true that during the year additional accommodation has been provided at the Hospital for scarlet-fever cases. A large ward has been erected capable of holding twenty-seven cases; but even this, in addition to the twelve beds at Berhampore, is not enough. An infectious-diseases

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