tain diseases whose prevalence and fatality are generally taken 

 ^s safe tests of the sanitary condition of a town or district, p.nd 

 in particular of the purity of the water supply and the complete- 

 ness and perfection of the drainage system. They may be depen- 

 dent, in greater or less degree, on other conditions ; but the mor- 

 tality caused by them may be expected to vary with those just 

 mentioned. The diseases which may be regarded as dependent 

 for the degree of their prevalence, more than almost any others, 

 on the sanitary condition of a district are typhoid fever and the 

 group known as the diarrhoeal diseases. Bad drainage, filthy 

 surroundings, and saturation of the soil with foul water are gene- 

 rally regarded as favouring their occurrence, while the opposite 

 conditions, in similar degree, tend to limit their prevalence, other 

 things being equal. Now, in Adelaide I do not understand that 

 there has been any material change in the water supply of late 

 years, and a marked diminution in the fatality from the diseases 

 named may, if found, be fairly put to the credit of the improved 

 drainage. I have endeavoured to make a comparison of the mor- 

 tality returns of the last few years, with the view of discovering 

 whether or not this has been actually the case. For that pur- 

 pose, however, it has been necessary to adopt a different basis 

 from that supplied by the total area described as Adelaide and 

 suburbs, since, though the deaths are given according to the regis- 

 tration districts in which they occurred, it is not possible to make 

 ■out what the districts are which go to make up that area.. It 

 has been necessary, therefore, to have recourse, for purposes of 

 comparison, to the registration district of Adelaide, which seems 

 to be wider in extent than the city of Adelaide, though smaller 

 than the full metropolitan area described as Adelaide and suburbs. 

 This arrangement is, I venture to suggest, a little confusing to 

 those who consult the annual reports without possessing the 

 advantage of local knowledge. Still, it is possible to make a 

 -comparison of the mortality for a series of years in the same dis- 

 trict and that corresponding closely with the area which has been 

 efficiently provided with sewers. The following table shows the 

 total mortality in the Adelaide registration district for each of 

 the years 1882-86, with the deaths in the same years from typhoid 

 and from diarrhoea, dysentery, and cholera 



It is unnecessary to discuss again whether the reduction in the 



