D.—No. 1b

10

EURTHER CORRESPONDENCE WITH

8T per 1,000; from heart diseases, T4 and I' 2; from brain diseases, 3'o and 26; and from old age, TO and oB ; leaving 72 and 6'B per 1,000 as the rates from all other diseases. Of the 3,737 deaths from the seven principal zymotic diseases last quarter, 1,356 were referred to whooping-cough, S3l to smallpox, 635 to measles, 402 to fever, and 321 to scarlet fever. The fatal cases of smallpox in London reached their maximum in the June quarter of 1871, when 3,241 were returned, since which the quarterly numbers have declined successively to 1,255, 980, and 831. The weekly numbers last quarter ranged between 91 and 48. Whooping-cough was epidemic throughout the quarter, and the weekly deaths ranged from 92 in the first to 118 in the thirteenth weeks. The fatality both from scarlet and enteric fevers was unusually low. No less than 639 deaths in London were referred to different forms of violence, showing a slight increase upon the 621 ,a,o .seiarned in the first quarter of 1871. Health of Fobeign Cities. From official returns furnished from time to time by various authorities the following facts bearing upon the recent health of several Indian and foreign cities are compiled. Indian Cities. —'Weekly returns are now received from Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, illustrating strikingly the sanitary condition of these three important cities in British India. These statistics will acquire greater value when the population figures obtained from the recent Census enumeration are received; at present they are only available for Madras, and showed that the population of that city had recently been far overestimated ; the populations which have been recently used for Calcutta and Bombay are also probably overstated. So the mortality of those cities is undoubtedly understated; but the statistical machinery at work is obtaining attention, and will no doubt soon be improved. In Calcutta, during the thirteen weeks ending the 16th of March, 2,862 deaths were returned, and the death-rate on the estimated population was equal to 27 per 1,000; the 4,959 deaths in Bombay during the thirteen weeks ending the 2nd of April give a death-rate of 24 per 1,000 on the population enumerated in 1864, and smallpox was fatally prevalent during the latter part of the quarter; in Madras, during the thirteen weeks ending the 22nd of March, the deaths returned were equal to an annual rate of 34 per 1,000 of the 395,440 persons enumerated in November, 1871. Foeiegn Cities.—ln Paris, during the thirteen weeks ending the 29th of March, 10,287 deaths were registered, and the annual death-rate calculated upon the provisionally estimated population, which is probably overstated, did not exceed 23 per 1,000; the city was comparatively free from epidemic. The death-rate in Brussels, after deducting the deaths in institutions of non-residents, was also 23 per 1,000, and the proportion of deaths from zymotic diseases was not excessive. In Berlin, during the thirteen weeks ending the 28th of March, 8,434 births and 6,912 deaths were registered ; the annual birth-rate was 41, and the death-rate 34 per 1,000; smallpox was again fatally prevalent in the city, and caused 931 deaths, or equal to an annual rate of 45 per 1,000. The returns from Vienna for the quarter are not complete. Weekly returns are now regularly received from three of the principal Italian cities—Borne, Florence, and Turin ; and recent enumerations of the population give additional value to the information they contain. In Eome, during the first quarter of the year, the birth-rate was 29 and the death-rate 43 ; the excess of the latter was due in great measure to the smallpox epidemic, which caused 403 deaths, or equal to a rate of 66 per 1,000; in Florence the birth-rate last quarter was 36, and the death-rate 31 per 1,000 ; in Turin the birth-rate was 33, and the death-rate 30, the proportion of deaths from zymotic diseases appearing to have been very low. In New York during the first 13 weeks of the year the deaths were at the annual rate of 32 per 1,000; both smallpox and scarlet fever were somewhat prevalent, and during the last few weeks of the quarter the new form of disease termed cerebro-spinal-meningitis became epidemic, and showed a rapidly increasing fatality.

No. 9. Agent-Geneeal to Hon. Colonial Seceetaey. Sib,— Hamburgh, 25th May, 1872. I have barely time, before starting for Copenhagen, to inform you that I have just concluded a very satisfactory arrangement with Mr. Sloman for the conveyance (in his vessel, which will leave in July) of locomotives, Waitaki Bridge cylinders, &c, to Otago. I have, &c, The Hon. W. Gisborne. I. E. Featheeston.

No 10. Agent-Genebal to Hon. Colonial Seceetaey. Sic,— Copenhagen, 26th May, 1872. I have the honor to forward a report by Mr. C. E. Carter, who was appointed by me to examine all the emigrants selected by Messrs. Brogden. I feel satisfied that he has discharged this duty with admirable judgment and discretion. I can, equally with him, bear testimony to the kind and cordial co-operation afforded by Messrs. Brogden. Should Messrs. Brogden contract for the railways mentioned in your telegram of the 18th April, they will be anxious to send out the whole number of emigrants they have undertaken to provide as rapidly as possible.