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INFANTILE MORTALITY IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 



By Henry Heylyn Hayter, Cor. Member, F.S.S., &c, &c, 

 Government Statist of Victoria. 



[Read March 19, 1878.] 



As I fear it may be thought presumptuous for one who not only has 

 never resided in South Australia, but has not even set foot within her 

 limits, to address the Adelaide Philosophical Society on a subject affect- 

 ing the colony, it is not without considerable diffidence that I venture to 

 do so. Considering, however, that my official position affords me pecu- 

 liar facilities for obtaining information respecting each colony, and for 

 collating and comparing it afterwards, I trust I sball be excused for 

 bringing forward a matter which is undoubtedly one of the most vital 

 importance. 



South Australia, although less populous than Victoria, New South 

 Wales, or New Zealand, is in many respects in advance of those colonies 

 or of any other colony of the Australasian group. A greater equality 

 exists between the numbers of males and females ; a larger, and, per head, a 

 much larger, extent of land is under cultivation; a larger quantity of wheat 

 israised; the taxation is lighter*; the exports per head are greater than in any 

 other Australasian colony ; and when it is added that whilst the marriage 

 and birth rates in several of the colonies are notably decreasing, those in 

 South Australia have for years past been steadily increasing, and in 1876 

 were, the former in excess of the rate in any other colony of the group, 

 and the latter in excess of that in any other colony except New Zealand. 

 It will, I believe, be readily admitted that South Australia is in pos- 



* This statement is true over a series of years, but in 1876, for the first 

 time, the taxation per head was slightly lower in New South Wales than in 

 South Australia. — Author. 



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