Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1872.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1233, 27 January 1872, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1872.

The recent hot and dry weather has caused our fellow-colonists in Auckland to take notice of a remarkable fact, which indicates pretty clearly what is the sanitary condition of tr at city, and the necessity of prompt attention to such matters as the drainage of the city, the water supply, and the better ventilation of its buildings. We allude to the high rate of infant, mortality which obtains there. The New Zealand Herald of the 22nd inst. enters into the matter at sprue length, and supplies statistical details of considerable importance, collected from the last volume of New Zealand statistics published by the Government. From the figures supplied we learn that the death rate amongst infants under 5 years of age averages in Auckland ISO out of each 1000, in Canterbury 145, in Wellington 135, in Nelson 130, and Otago 120, —being in Auckland just half as many again as in Otago. These returns being for the Provinces, scarcely gives a con-ect idea of the high ratio of infant mortality in the ciiy. It is not unreasonable to suppose that that of the country districts in the extreme cases of Auckland and Otago approximates more nearly, and that the great excess of infant deaths in Auckland over the rest of the Colony occurs primarily in the city of Auckland. It must be understood that the numbers given refer to the average of 5 yeais from 1866 to 1870 inclusive, and bear no reference to any exception ally high death rate from temporary causes such as the late drought. This has merely had the effect of calling attention to the evil, which we believe has been of late much over the average

givep. Now at a time when the Government are going abroad to find population for the settlements of this Colony, and raising loans for effecting this purpose, it must strike our readers that it would be a much wiser policy to direct attention to the preservation of those we have already here. It cannot for one moment be supposed that there is any necessity for so high an infant death rate as even that of Otago, the lightest of the several provinces, which is, as we have said, 120 in the 1,000. Much loss of infant life may be owing to bad treatment by uneducated and careless mothers—much through intemperance; but we believe that most of it arises from causes that are within the power of the Government to remove by wise legislation and strict execution of wholesome laws. To neglect the subject after it has been pointed out becomes a crime; and, as remaikeel by the New Zealand Herald, " the most ruinous extravagance that any country can indulge in, and especially a young country such as this, situated so far from the source whence immigrants can be obtained, is the waste ol infant life."