508 Transactions, — Miscellaneous. 



Experts in social science aver that the death-rate of large classes in 

 Europe is attributable to then being habitually underfed. The enormously 

 high death-rate of those earning the lowest wages (such as workers in silk 

 earning only 2s. 7-|d. a week : kid glovers, 2s. 2d. ; stocking weavers, 

 2s. 6^-d. ; needlewomen, 2s. 7d.), proves that long- continued semi-star- 

 vation is an important factor in increasing the death-rate. In France 

 among the rich 68 per 1,000 of all deaths were due to tubercular 

 diseases, but amongst the poor and underfed the rate rose to 230 

 in 1,000. 



(6.) Large Proportion engaged in Agriculture. 



This means that an unusually large portion of our people lead healthy 

 out-door lives, breathe fresh clear air, live all their days in the freely-blowing 

 breezes and bask in the strength-giving sunshine. We have no huge cities 

 with dense overcrowding ; our largest towns have a population living com- 

 paratively far apart. We have no dark dens, no life-destroying alleys ; our 

 streets are wide. 



(7.) Sparsity of Population. 



The scattered condition of the people, noticeable not only among the 

 agriculturalists but also in the towns. The absence of that constant over- 

 crowding so fatal among older civilizations, which leads to the chronic ill- 

 health of the poor in large European cities and to the rapid spread of all 

 infectious and contagious diseases and conduces so powerfully to that chief 

 scourge of our race, viz., phthisis. Children in our towns look nearly as 

 healthy as those in the country. 



(8.) Paucity of Manufactures. 



With the increase of "local industries" there must inevitably be an 

 increase in the death-rate. Not to quote such vivid cases as phosphorus 

 poisoning and necrosis among matchmakers ; or Sheffield grinders' 

 phthisis ; or arsenical or copper poisoning ; or woolsorters' disease ; or 

 brassfounders' ague ; or, fiintcutters' or needleworkers' or filemakers' chest 

 disease, and a host "besides, the rise of manufactures must cause many 

 deaths. Contrast the pallid wan faces, the bowed heads, the feeble sickly 

 look of the crowds of factory hands in Great Britain, with the healthy look 

 of our town dwellers. Or come nearer home, to Melbourne, and no one 

 can question the depressing effect of manufactures on the people. Apart 

 too from tbis widespread deterioration of the race there is always a certain 

 percentage of deaths due to factory accidents. The absence of manufac- 

 tures shows itself in a lessened death-rate. 



(9.) Small Amount of Mining. 



As mining developes, so will chest diseases multiply. Coalminers in 

 England suffer terribly from bronchitis, phthisis, pneumonia, and other 



