560 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G^. 



illness, for the interference -which every sickness involves with the 

 work of others, or for the infection of others and resultant further 

 loss of work and money."' 



The total revenue for West Australia for 1907 was £3,401,353 

 — the estimated mean population 263,749 — the revenue per head was 

 thus £12 18s., approximately. The number of deaths from phthisis 

 was 206. Thus, roughly assuming each individual to be worth £12 

 18s. to the State, the loss to the State would be £2,657 8s. for 1907 

 alone. Mr. E. T. Owen, the (Government Actuary for Western Aus- 

 tralia, in his report to the Royai Commission on Immigration, assesses. 

 the value to the State of every immigrant of thirty years of age at 

 £309. To quote from his report : — 



'■ On that basis eveiy immigrant of thirty years of age is, when 

 the annual sums are capitalised, worth to the State Government £295, 

 and to the local government authorities £14 ; he is, therefore, under 

 that assumption, worth to the State the total sum of £309." 



During 1907, 172 persons between twenty and fifty years of age 

 died from phthisis in West Australia. Assuming each person to be 

 worth only half the above estimate, there occurred in one year a 

 capital loss to the State of £26,574. 



Any of these financial methods of arriving at an irrdividual's value 

 to the State is unsatisfactory, but whichever point of view be chosen, 

 the loss in one year of 206 individuals to the State or of 2,863 to the 

 Commonwealth, the majority of whom are in the prime of life, is a 

 very senous matter, and any expenditure that would prevent the 

 spread of this disease would be more than justified. 



The following table shows the number of people in each year who 

 died from phthisis after ten years' or less residence in Westera 



Australia : — 



This table in itself is sufficient reason for the introduction of 

 strict supervisory measures for the prevention of fresh cases, which 

 become a charg'e upon public funds and serious centres of fresh 

 infection. 



The measures to be adopted are obvious. They include all known 

 precautions, the supervision of the meat and food supply, the careful 

 and repeated inspection of dairy herds, the notification of cases, the 

 cleansing and disinfection of infected pi^emises, and paiiicularly the 

 strict isolation of " open cases." In this Commonwealth, also, strong 

 measures should be taken with a view to prevent the landing of 

 phthisis cases, or their strict supervision if allowed to land. 



Throughout this paper I have made free use of the statistical 

 )'eturns published by Mr. Fraser, the Registrar-General for West 

 Australia, who also kindly obtained for me, through the courtesy of 

 the respective statisticians, the necessary statistics from the other 

 States. I take this opportunitj'" of thanking him for his kindness, not 

 only in furnishing data, but for many useful suggestions. 



