session of certain material advantages the contemplation of which, may 

 well afford thankfulness and satisfaction to the minds of her colonists. 



But there is one point in respect to which South Australia suffers 

 in comparison with every other Australasian colony. T refer to the 

 excessive mortality of her infants. 



This point came prominently under my observation whilst com- 

 piling the " Victorian Year-Book, 1876-7." A table showing the infan- 

 tile mortality of each colony over a series of years, based upon the prin- 

 ciple of comparing the deaths of children under one year of age with the 

 births, was given at page 68 of that work. For my present purpose, and 

 in order to make the calculations more readily understood, I have slightly 

 altered this table so as to show the proportion of deaths of infants to 

 every 1,000 births instead of every 100, and thus have been able to 

 obviate the necessity of using decimals. 



A reference to the first of the appended tables (A.) will show that 

 during the ten years ended with 1875, 157 children in every 1,000 born 

 South Australia died before completing their first year, whereas the 

 proportion was 126 in Victoria, 125 in Queensland, 104 in New South 

 Wales, 102 in New Zealand, and only 101 in Tasmania. The infantile 

 mortality of South Australia was thus 25 per cent, above that of Vic- 

 toria, 26 per cent, above that of Queensland, 51 per cent, above that of 

 New South Wales, 54 per cent, above that of New Zealand, and 55 per 

 cent, above that of Tasmania. 



Also in each of the respective years of the decenniad it will be 

 noticed that the proportion was always higher in South Australia than 

 in any other colony, and even at periods when circumstances caused the 

 infantile mortality to be exceptionally high in one or more of the other 

 colonies, it so happened rhat it was always higher in South Australia. 

 Thus in 1866, when infants died in Queensland in the proportion of 167, 

 and in Victoria in that of 153 per 1,000 births, they died in South Aus- 

 tralia in the proportion of 174 per 1,000 births. In 1867, when they 

 died in New South Wales in the ratio of 124 per 1,000 births, they died 

 in South Australia in the ratio of 178 per 1,000 births. In 1875, when 

 they died in Tasmania in the ratio of 131, and in New Zealand in that 

 of 126 per 1,000 births, they died in South Australia in the ratio of 181 

 per 1,000 births. 



The average annual infantile death rate of South Australia (157 

 per 1,000 births) was never reached in any of the other colonies except 



