negatives 40, with tension from '2'5 to 8, and 1 nil. There was a smart 

 ihundemfoi-m, with liffhtninrf and heavy rain, on the 8th. 



The deaths during the month were 40, being + l'7u only above the average. 

 December 1870 had 10 less. Under I year old there were 7 deaths, being 

 the same in number as 1870 ; from 1 to 5 years old there were 4 deaths, 

 exactly the same as in 1870. At 5 to 10 there were no deaths ; from 10 to 

 15 none, while December 1870 had 2 ; at 15 to 20 there was 1 death, 1870 had 

 2. It thus appears that in this month there were 12 deaths only under 20 years 

 old, while in 1870 there were 15. From 20 to 60 years there were 17 deaths, 

 being 5 more than in 1870. At 00 years old, and all ages above, there were 17 

 deaths, the oldest being 85 ; while 1870 had only 0, the oldest being 79. la 

 the zinnotic class of diseases there were 6 deaths, all cases of infantile diarrhcea. 

 In the constitutional class there were 4 deaths from Consumption, one a 

 native of Tasmania. One death from Cancer of the mouth. In the Diseases 

 of the Brain and Nervous Si/stem there were 7 deaths, 1 recorded as idiopathic 

 tetanus, 3 apoplexy, 1 hydrocei)halus, 1 convulsions, 1 diseased brain. In 

 December, 1870, there were 5 deaths in this class, one being from tetanus. 

 In Diseases of the Heart &c., there were 2 deaths ; in Diseases of the Lungs, 

 &c., 9, all being of a chronic character except 2. There were 4 inquests, one 

 of them a death in Hospit.il. In Hospital there were 11 others. At the 

 Cascades a child aged 15 months died in the gaol, registered bronchitis. 

 Three men died in the Invalid Asylum aged 67, 81, 85. At the Brickfields 

 Invalid Asylum there were 2 deaths aged 63 and 76. 



In all 1871 there died in the Hobart Town registration district 507 in- 

 dividuals, being only 7 more than in the previous year, but 53 less than the 

 average of the previous 14 years. In the first quarter the deaths were 140 ; 

 in the second quarter 113 ; in the third 123 ; in the fourth 131 ; as usual the 

 autumn and winter quarters having the smallest moi-tality. 



The Births registei^ed in all Tasmania during 1871 were 3,053, being one 

 less than in the previous year. The Deaths registered were 1,350, being .54 less 

 than in 1870, and about 13| per 1,000 of population, being somewhat less 

 than the death rate in the healthiest of the English registration districts, 

 notwithstanding a greater proportion relatively of very young and very old in 

 the population of Tasmania when compared with that of England and "Wales. 



