H.—3l

4

The following table shows the causes of deaths of children under one year of age during the past five years :—

Deaths of Children under One Year — Causes — 1911-15.

The following table shows the number of deaths from the most prevalent infectious diseases during the past five years: —

Infectious Disease, The following table shows the number of cases of infectious disease notified throughout the Dominion during the year 1915 : —

Dangerous Infectious Diseases. Smallpox. —One case was notified to the District Health Officer, Auckland, during the year, but it was open to doubt whether it was a true case. All precautions were, however, taken, and all contacts vaccinated. All former contacts were followed up. but no traces of illness could be found before or after contact with the patient. Plague. —lt is again satisfactory to report absence of plague in man or rodent. 16,189 rats were purchased from various sources by the District Health Officer, Auckland, and were examined for symptoms of plague infection. Leprosy. —The conditions with regard to this disease remain the same, there being still two active cases at the quarantine station, one of whom, owing to blindness, is unable to look after himself, and has been receiving attention from the Maori, who had recovered from the disease. Further swabs have been taken from the Maori, but all with negative results. Sale ok Food and Drugs Act. During the year complaints having been made regarding the sale of light-weight butter and bread, a surprise sampling was, by your instructions, undertaken throughout the Dominion. The result showed that the great majority of the samples weighed complied with the requirements of the Act. A number of prosecutions were initiated and convictions obtained.

Causes. Number of Deaths from each Cause. 1911. 1912. 1913. 1914. 19] r-ercei ntage of Total. I 1912. 1913. 1914. 1915. 19.11. I 1912. 1913. 1.914. 1915. Whooping-cough Convulsions Bronchitis and pneumonia Diarrhoea and enteritis Malformations Premature birth Congenital debility Other causes 12 89 161 244 51 337 263 327 li 51 126 178 117 398 254 279 87 71 157 214 89 418 296 321 53 51 I 115 ! 163 ! 98 | 420 246 310 50 55 127 116 132 397 211 307 0-81 6-00 10-85 16-44 3-43 22-71 17-72 22-04 0-43 3-02 8-94 12-63 8-30 28-25 18-03 19-80 5-20 4-29 9-50 12-96 5-38 25-29 17-91 19-42 3-64 3-50 7-90 11-19 6-73 28-85 16-90 21-29 3-58 3-95 9-11 8-25 9-47 28-48 15-14 22-02 Totals I ,484 1 ,409 1,653 1,456 1,394 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00 100-00

Number of Deaths. Proportion per 10,000 of Mean Population. Cause. 1911. 1912. 1913. 1914, 1915. 1911. 1912. 1913. 1914. 1915. Typhoid fever Measles Scarlet fever Whooping-cough Diphtheria Influenza Pulmonary tuberculosis Other forms of tuberculosis 67 41 9 17 62 63 584 154 46 15 7 10 46 65 567 149 60 26 11 128 61 56 656 166 48 33 22 74 78 63 576 152 52 64 44 80 99 110 562 131 0-66 0-44 0-41 0-14 0-09 0-07 0-17 0-10 0-61 0-44 0-62 0-63 5-75 j 5-46 1-52 1-13 0-56 0-24 0-10 1-20 0-57 0-52 6-14 1-46 0-44 0-17 0-30 0-58 0-20 0-40 0-68 0-73 0-72 0-90 0-58 1 -00 5-28 6-1 I 1-39 1-19

DiseaBO. 1915. Number of Casei 1914. Hate ot Incidence per 10,000 of the Population. 1913. 1913. 1915. 1914. Scarlet fever Diphtheria Enteric Tuberculosis Blood-poisoning Chicken-pox Smallpox Polio-myelitis Cerebro-spinal meningitis Hydatids 2,312 1,420 825 1,019 140 401 1 It) 85 18 ! I,506 I 1,095 i 859 I 957 I 162 I ,123 63 I 268 1 1,614 747 863 1,018 118 1,137 470 21-03 12-92 7-50 9-27 1-27 3-65 0-09 0-77 0-1(1 56-67 13-81 10-04 7-88 8-78 1-49 10-30 0-58 2-46 55-33 16-10 6-99 8-08 9-53 l-IO 10-64 4-40 Totals 6,231 6,033 5,967 55-84