132 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



the loss sustained through disability of 2,400 females by sickness in 

 the same city." 



A few years ago, Sir Thomas Oliver, professor of the practice 

 of medicine in the University of Durham, made an enquiry into the 

 causes of death of the Boilermakers' Society in England. The society 

 has a membership of upwards of 66,000. The percentage of deaths 

 from pneumonia was 9.51, and from tuberculosis 11.75, a total of 

 over 21 per cent. He reported that the mortality from pneumonia 

 was unusually high between 40 and 60, and that tuberculosis claimed 

 its victims at an early age. " At 23, tuberculosis is asserting itself ; the 

 mortality rate continues to be high till over 50 years of age, that is, 

 it lasts through all the best period of a man's working life." 



There is a heavy death rate from these causes in rural districts 

 in Canada among comparatively young people, and a large proportion 

 of the mortality from respiratory diseases is undoubtedly due to defec- 

 tive sanitation and want of proper ventilation. In Ontario, the total 

 number of deaths from tuberculosis in 1915 was 2,466, of which no 

 less than 1,707, or 69 per cent, occurred between the ages of 20 and 

 59. It is stated that one-third of all the deaths on the American 

 continent, occurring between the ages of 15 and 60 years, are from 

 tuberculosis. 



By-Law Administration 



In many rural districts in Canada there are no building or sani- 

 tary by-laws, and, even when they exist, they are not administered 

 in a satisfactory way. It is one of the defects of our municipal sys- 

 tem in Canada that we rely on local by-laws — where we have 

 them at all — to regulate sanitary conditions and building develop- 

 ment. Matters requiring the exercise of the best skilled advice — 

 which can only be dealt with equitably under a system based on con- 

 tinuity of policy and management — are administered by men whose 

 terms of office are too short to enable them to learn even the rudi- 

 ments of municipal government. Whatever discretion they are per- 

 mitted to exercise they are prone to use as a means of barter with 

 private interests and, frequently, under the force of political pres- 

 sure. It is not suggested that the criticism of some people, that 

 municipal rulers in Canada are more open to corrupt practices, or 

 are less efficient, than the rulers of European countries, is a just criti- 

 cism. The average council of a rural district in Canada is as honest 

 and efficient as that in a rural district in England. On the whole, 

 both endeavour to be just, and both have the kind of ability best suited 

 for the work. But in England the local administrator is not a legis- 



