68 



infants shown by the registration returns of South Australia does not 

 really exist or is at all exaggerated. To trace the various agencies by 

 which such a calamitous result is brought about would be to any one a 

 difficult task, and would manifestly be impossible to one unacquainted 

 with, and who has no means of gaining: an intimate knowledge of, the 

 ramifications of social life in South Australia. 



Whether it be due to defective sanitary arrangements, or to 

 neglect resulting from the debility, indolence, or intemperance of mothers, 

 or from the fact that custom, inclination, or the necessity of their posi- 

 tion, causes many of them to engage in some trade or business ; or to the 

 ignorance of mothers as to the best mode of rearing children, resulting, 

 perhaps, from early marriages, or to the administration of aperients to 

 new-born infants — butter, sugar, and such other abominations ; or to the 

 administration of spirits, cordials, soothing powders, or other narcotic 

 drugs ; or to weaning at too early an age ; or to administering innutri- 

 tious food, or food of too substantial a consistency, or too farinaceous a 

 character, either before or after weaning ; or to the attendance on the 

 mother of midwives ; or to baby farming ; or to the poverty of the 

 parents ; or whether, on the other hand, it be mainly due to congenital 

 weakness or to the effects of the climate, which, although probably not 

 so hot as that of New South Wales, is hotter than that of Victoria, and, 

 according to the observations of Sir Gr. S. Kingston, is drier than that ef 

 either Victoria or New South Wales, these are matters on which I am 

 unable to pronounce an opinion, but which, I submit, demand the 

 fullest and most careful investigation. 



To aid in such an enquiry I have prepared Table C, which shows the 

 causes of death of infants during the three years ended with 1875, 

 arranged in the order of their fatality. I regret that I have been unable 

 to obtain the material for compiling the information over the whole 

 period of ten years to which Table A relates. Although I cannot learn 

 that it has ever been published for the first seven years of the decenniad, 

 it probably exists in the office of the Registrar-General of Births and 

 Deaths in South Australia, and if so, could doubtless be procured with- 

 out any difficulty. 



It is also desirable that the ages at which the infants die should, if 

 possible, be ascertained, so that it might he known in what proportion of 

 instances the death takes place, soon after birth, or after the expiry of 

 one, three, or six months, &c. This information is not now to be found 

 in the published returns. 



