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was so mild that no death has so far occurred and all the cases except those which occurred early in the epidemic have been of a mild type, but have proved rather resistant to treatment owing to the rice that they were receiving being of inferior quality. On December 30th the first consignment of unpolished rice was received and I hope that some improvement will soon manifest itself.
The rice was sent to the Analyst for examination and he reported that there was only 0.24 of phosphorus as phosphorus pentoxide present—the minimum safe rice should contain is 0.35 and this is very low. The unpolished rice has been analysed and contains 0.50%.
An attempt was made to give the prisoners rice bran which contains the necessary vitamines but they objected to eating it and the use of it had to be abandoned.
To provide hospital accommodation for the patients the upper floor of Kennedy Town Hospital was taken over and 172 patients went there for treatment of whom 77 were still under treatment at the end of the year.
Condition of prisoners on admission to gaol.
Of the 5,212 total admissions to gaol 1,036 or 19.9% were found to be physically unfit for the full task for the following reasons:—
541 were under weight or of too poor condition.
220 were incapacitated owing to age.
146 were juveniles.
129 were suffering from disease or the results of disease.
Of these 31 were admitted to hospital at the time of their entry into gaol.
Female Prisoners:—
There were 264 females admitted.
The average daily number was 36.
55 cases were under treatment and no death occurred.
No case of beri-beri occurred amongst the female prisoners.
General Statistics:-
The total admissions were 5,212.
The daily average of prisoners was 756.
The total admissions to hospital were 859.
The total number of attendances by prisoners in the out-patient department was 19,972.
The daily average attendance at the out-patient department was 53.6 and in hospital (excluding those removed to Kennedy Town) 9.8.
Vaccinations.-5,794 prisoners were vaccinated and of these 1,229 were successful, 3,337 were unsuccessful, and 1,228 were not examined owing to early discharge.
* The outbreak ceased 10 days after unpolished rice was used for food.