266 TiMEHRI. 



In England it is now 179. In London lyg. In large 

 towns 19, and in Nottingham it is as low as 14. In 

 Australia the mortality varies from 177 in Queensland 

 to 1 2*4 in New Zealand. These figures I mention to 

 show how much yet has to be done to bring the health of 

 the colony to anything to be compared with what exists 

 elsewhere. We must not listen to the voice of the 

 charmer who will at once whisper " can't" in our ears. 

 The redu6lion of the mortality is a matter that concerns 

 every one and only by facing it will the difficulty be 

 overcome. It can be done, and sooner or later will have 

 to be done ; and the sooner it is done the more cheaply 

 will it be done. See what a difference, here the mor- 

 tality is 30, in England only 19. Eleven lives to be 

 saved per thousand per annum to put us level with 

 England. Eleven lives does not seem many but multi- 

 plied by 282 (thousand), the present population of the 

 colony it means 3,000 lives saved to the colony which 

 taking the cost, $80, of importing a coolie, as the value 

 of a man (this is not the true economic value of a man 

 but it is the only one I can find here), means a saving of 

 $240,000 a year. As Sir SPENCER Wells has only 

 recently said in an address on the Health of the Nation 

 delivered at Manchester, a low mortality is only a matter 

 of sanitary administration. And if we can only get 

 phthisis as a cause of death removed, the mortality 

 would come by this alone to range from 25 to 18 per 

 thousand. This disease would soon disappear did we all 

 breathe pure air. That these ideas are not Utopian I 

 may draw attention to what has already been done in 

 the colony, and for the figures I have to express my thanks 

 to the Surgeon-General. 



