401
Ten deaths occurred in persons, other than Chinese, employed by Foreign Navies, as fol- lows:- ན
Enteric Fever (U.S.S. Monadnock),
12
(U.S.S. Don Juan d'Austria), (French gunboat Argus),
1
2
(French cruiser Descartes),
15
(Dutch cruiser Holland),
1
1
Malarial Fever (S.M.S. Gefion),
General Tuberculosis (Chilian training ship General
Baquedano),
Acute Nephritis (U.S.S. Cuba),
1
Explosion of a saluting charge (U.S.S. Wheeling),. 1
Total,.
10
The deaths of Non-Chinese occurring in the Mercantile Marine numbered 40 and were composed as follows:-
Bubonic Fever,
}
1
Forward.....
.26
Enteric Fever,.......
3
Alcoholism,
4
Small-pox,
1
Cirrhosis of Liver,
1
Beri-Beri,
Sprue,
1
Heart Disease,.
7
Surgical Kidney,.
1
Phthisis,
Fracture of Skull,
1
Pleurisy,
1
Strangulation (Suicide),
1
Apoplexy,
2.
Gunshot Wound of Chest (Accident),
1
Meningitis,
3
Drowning,
1
Cerebral Softening,...
1
Inanition (Infantile),
Carried forward,................................26
40
The death from Bubonic Fever occurred in the person of an Indian seaman on board the P. & 0. s.s. Coromandel from Bombay. One of the deaths from Beri-Beri was a German on board the s.s. Alboni, and the other an Indian on board the s.s. Bania.
The total number of deaths therefore which occurred among the Non-Chinese resident civil community was 188; allowing 990 for the Non-Chinese floating population this is equal to a death-rate of 23.1 per 1,000.
The principal causes of death among the Non-Chinese resident civil community, were as follows :--
Phthisis,
........20 Malarial Fevers, ....
Infantile Debility and Inanition, ...16
Heart Disease,..
Bubonic Fever,
Accidents,
Enteric Fever,.......
15
General Tuberculosis,.
.14
Bright's Disease,....
.10
9
9
8
7
The nationalities of the 14 persons who died of Bubonic Fever were as follows:-European 1, Portuguese 4, Indian 6, and Japanese 3. The European was a Britisher, employed at the Naval Yard, and he had only arrived in the Colony some six weeks previously.
UNCERTIFIED DEATHS.
During the year there were 533 deaths registered of Chinese who had not been attended by a medical man, as compared with 463 during the previous year, and in every case the relatives of the deceased have been interviewed, and the the dead bodies inspected, and where necessary, sent to the Government Mortuary, with the result that no less than 46 deaths from Bubonic Fever, and one death from Small-pox were thus discovered, and the premises disinfected and cleansed in the usual manner.
AGE DISTRIBUTION OF DEATHS.
There seems to be little or no improvement in the alarmingly high death-rate among the infant population of this Colony, and no less than 20.9 per cent. of the total deaths recorded occur in infants under one year of age. The infant death-rate among the Non-Chinese community during the year has been 122.6 per 1,000 as compared with 128 per 1,000 in the previous year, but among the Chinese population that rate was 928 per 1,000 which means that, out of every thousand Chinese infants born in this Colony, only 72 survive for a period of twelve months. Such an enormous mortality can only be the result of the gravest neglect on the part of the parents, and I cannot but think that the system, which has been tacitly permitted for many years past, of allowing moribund infants to be left at the doors of the various Convents, without any enqui- ries being made, conduces largely to this neglect. The Chinese unfortunately do not recognize infan- ticide as a crime, and it can hardly be expected therefore that they will appreciate the criminality of this neglect of our infant population, unless it is occasionally brought home to them by the strong arm of the British law.
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