133 



Deaths. — Every month of the year, except May, had a death record belo\r 

 the mean of the previous eight yfars. The total, 492, 1)eing76 less than 18G4 

 li il, and 95 1-7 loss than the average of the previous s;even years, and far below 

 any one of the number. 



Under " one year of age" the seven years' average of deaths is 138 6-7 — 

 while 18G4 had lUl, the year just passed had only 95. At the same time the 

 births registered during the year, amounting in number to 835, were only 3 less 

 than 1804 had. 



At " I to 5 years of age" onlj' 27 died in 1865, -while 1864 had 07, and the 

 average of the previous seven years is 87 5-7. Never before in llobarton dis- 

 trict tUd infantile deaths ]>rove so few, all andsanitarians audstatisticiansadmit 

 that their mortality affords the surest test of the salubrity of any climate or 

 season. Perhaps no country in the world could exhibit such favorable returns 

 for children under five years old as the foregoing. 



At ''5 to 20 years of age" the total mortality of the year 1865 amounted to 

 37, while l»64 had 44. and the seven years' average is only 3^"^ 5-7. In this 

 group of ages, and in those above 60 only, was the average exceeded. 



At "20 to 45 years of age" the deaths were 83; they were 113 in 1864, and 

 the seven previous years gave the average of 120. 



At "45 to 00," 9(3 dea hs occurred, 1804 had 113, and the average of the 

 seven years was 97 4-7. 



At '' all ages above 6 )" the deaths were 160, while 1864 had only 107, and 

 the seven years' average was 101 5-7. So large a proportion of deaths in this 

 group is quite abnormal, and its relative amount to those under five years most 

 remarkable. The ordinary rate is for the deaths above 00 years old, and under 

 five, to be nearly alike, so that this relative mortality greatly enhances the 

 favorable character of 1805. 



In the first, or Zymotic class of diseases, the deaths for the whole year were 

 only 61, while in 1804 they were 11], and the average of the previous seven 

 years was 128 3-7ths. 



Il the2ud, or Constitutional claims of diseases, 86 were tabled for 1865, while 

 1864 had 95, and the seven years' average is 90 4-7ths. 



In the third, or Local class of diseases, 240 deaths were recorded, to £66 in 

 1864, and a seven years' average of 272 2-7ths. 



In the fourth, ov Developmental class of diseases, there were 70 deaths ; 1864 

 had 69, while the seven years' average is only 563-7th3. This class includes 

 death from "old age," which accounts for the excess, as was shown in the 

 group of " all ages above 60." 



The fifth, or Violent and Accidental class, had 34 deaths, being seven more 

 than 1864 had, but 5 6-7ths less than the seven years' average. 



In the registration district of Hobarton it is probable that the numerical 

 amount of the population in 1865 did not deviate much from the census total of 

 186 1, when it was "^4,773, but for calculation it may l:>e approximately estimated 

 in round numbers at 25,000. The death-rate would, therefore, be somewhat less 

 than 20 per 1000 It must not be forgotten that had the death-ra e of the 

 Queen's Asylum for Destitute Children — which on an average of the 19 years 

 J841-lb59, out of an average daily strength of about 430, had upwards of 1 5 

 deaths per annum — continued, the total would have been increased by 17, the 

 average daily strength in 1865 of the institution being about 550 children. 

 During the last four years the deaths altogether have been only 7 ; in no other 

 consecutive four years since 1841 were thei^ less than three times as many 

 deaths, out of the much smaller number of childi-en. 



The mortuary returns for all Tasmania in 1865 ai-e nearly as favorable as 

 that for the llobarton registration district alone. Launceston had 2L4 deaths, 

 which is 37 less than in 1864. The rural districts had 569 in 1805, to 601 in 

 1864. The total deaths in all Tasmania for 1865 is after adding one death of 

 a convict, and another of a man executed — ' ,277, being less than 1864 by i58^ 

 and below the average of the eight previous years by 205 2-8ths ; 1862 had 

 previously the smallest mortality, 1 362, and 1860 the largest, 1,749. 



Births. — The total of births registered in all Tasmania in 1865 was 3069, being 

 38 more than 1864 had. The birth-rate, therefore, was about one in 31 of the 

 population, A much greater rate existed for a few years after the gold disco- 

 veries, but with the diminished prosperity of late years, marriages have aot 



