255
This shows a loss of something over 7 per 1,000 per annum anong British troops, from Malarial diseases alone-a sufficiently high death-rate to warrant active measures of protection on the part of the military authorities. The pure white civilian population of the Colony (ie., not including the locally born Portuguese) numbers nearly double that of the British troops and yet only three deaths from Malarial diseases occurred among them during the year, two being old men, aged 67 and 70 respectively, and the third, a lad of nine years.
The three deaths from Bubonic Fever were not incurred in the execution of Plague duty, but must have been contracted by the men in some of the Chinese houses of entertainment.
Eleven deaths occurring in the China Squadron were registered in this Colony during the year; the average age at death was 30, and the causes of death were as follows:
Enteric Fever,
Remittent Fever,
Bright's Disease,
Cancer of Stomach,
2
1
.1
Heat Apoplexy, Drowning,
Cut Throat (Suicide),
1
1
.1
.1
Small-pox,
Dysentery,
Pneumonia,
.1 1
The deaths of persons other than Chinese employed in the Mercantile Marine and in Foreign Navies were 38 in number and comprised the following nationalities:-British and American 18, Indian 5, Gerinan 4, Portuguese 3, South American (coloured) 3, Japanese 2, and Norwegian, Spanish and Italian, each 1.
The causes of death were as follows:-
Phthisis,.
6
Bright's Disease,
.4
Peritonitis, Pleurisy,
.1
.1
Small-pox,
3
Remittent Fever,
.1
Alcoholism and Delirium Tremens, ...3
Hydatids,
Dysentery,.
2
Pneumonia,
1
Heart Disease,
2
Melancholia,
.1
Enteric Fever,
Bubonic Plague,
.1
Heat Apoplexy,
Electric Shock,
Apoplexy,
1
Fracture of Skull,
1
Syphilis,
.1
Undiagnosed,
.2
Enteritis,
1
The total number of deaths therefore which occurred among the Non-Chinese resident civil community during the year was 210 (which is equal to a death-rate of 24.05 per 1,000) as com- pared with 149 during the previous year and 199 during 1896.
The principal causes of death among the European civil community were as follows:--
Bubonic Fever (Plague),..
..11
Infantile Convulsions,
Alcoholism and Delirium Tremens.... 5
Bright's Disease,
Phthisis, Peritonitis,
4
4
Remittent Fever, Dysentery,.
.4
.3
3
.3
UNCERTIFIED DEATHS.
During the year there were 641 deaths of Chinese who were not attended by a medical man, and in every case the relatives of the deceased were interviewed by nyself, and the dead bodies inspected by one of the Inspectors of Nuisances, and, in all cases of doubt, by myself also. In this manner we were enabled to discover 37 deaths from Bubonic Fever (Plague) and 2 deaths from Small-pox which would otherwise have been recorded as due to some less alarming maladies. I am still of the opinion, moreover, that there is great scope in this direction for one or more Chinese doctors, well trained in Western medicine, who should be attached to the Sanitary Staff, and who would prove most valuable allies, in encouraging their countrymen to observe the elementary principles of sanitation, and in detect- ing the commencement of any outbreaks of infections disease. Many of the hygienic crimes committed by the Chinese in this Colony are unquestionably due rather to ignorance than to wilfulness, and the intelligent propagation of our laws by men of their own nationality would, I feel sure, go far towards ameliorating those conditions which at present tend so largely to the discomfort of European colonists and to the detriment of the health of the Chinese themselves.
AGE-DISTRIBUTION OF DEATHS
The death-rate among the infant population is a most serious item in the mortality returns for the Colony, since no less than 18.4 per cent. of the deaths recorded occur in infants under one year of age.
The infant death-rate among the Non-Chinese inhabitants of the Colony during the year was 139.9 per 1,000, as compared with 120 during 1897, and the rate among the Chinese population was 630 per 1,000 as compared with 593 during 1897. This rate still shows, however, an improvement upon former years, among the Chinese, for in 1896 it was 745 and in 1895 it was 759 per 1,000. As I have pointed out in previous reports, this high infant death-rate is largely due to the insanitary condi- tion of the houses of the poorer classes and the fact that it has been so far reduced since 1894 is an earnest of the further beneficial results which may be expected to accrue from the improvements in the sanitary condition of the Colony generally. The rise in the rate for the past year is merely a part of
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