HH62/2/WIGTOW/29

Transcription

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of the different localities. The death-rates are, at the most, only a basis
of inference, but they indicate, as long experience has proved, the
relative health or dishealth of various localities. By the end of the next
administrative year I hope to have correlated the main facts now avail-
able in the health history of the different parishes. The research
necessary for this correlation is made more laborious by the fact that the
Registrar-General does not give the full details for his minor areas.
Such details, therefore, must be got from organised investigation of the
death certificates and registrar's returns at head-quarters. Until this is
done, and the present social conditions of the district fully canvassed,
we shall not know what precise amount of reliance to place on the
figures of any one year. With these qualifications I now indicate the
condition of the disease so far as the death-rates enable me to do so. And,
first, I give the general rates; next, some special rates; and, lastly, any
relevant proposals for prevention or migration.

A. - GENERAL.

In the following calculations the parish of Glasserton, for which I
have received no returns, has to be omitted; I have excluded it
altogether. Its population is 1154 - not large enough to make any
serious difference to the main facts. Also, I present two sets of calcula-
tions - one which includes the three burghs of Newton-Stewart, Wigtown,
and Whithorn, and involves a total population of 14,335, and a second,
which excludes those burghs and involves a population of 9093.
(a.) Rates including Burghs. - The total population at the census
of 1891 was 14,335. The number of deaths for year 1891 was 315.
This is equivalent to an annual death-rate of 21.735 per 1000 of
population. This rate is distinctly above the average for a 'mainland-
rural district,' which, even with burghs included, the Lower District of
Wigtown essentially is. Thus, to compare it with the 'mainland-rural'
death-rate for the first three quarters of the year over the whole of
Scotland:- For the quarter ending March 31st - as a rule the worst
quarter of the year - the mainland-rural rate was 19 per 1000; for the
other two quarters respectively 16.7 and 13.8 per 1000. For the same
three quarters the death-rates in the large town districts were 22.8, 21.9,
and 17.4 respectively. For the principal towns the corresponding rates
were 24.1, 23.6, and 17.9 respectively. It thus becomes obvious that
the annual rate for the Lower District approaches rather the large town
rates then the mainland-rural; that is, the Lower District rate must be
regarded as exceptionally high.
(b.) Rates excluding Burghs. - THe total population, exclusive of
burghs, was 9093. Of the 315 deaths, 176 occurred outside the burghs.

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This is equivalent to a death-rate of 19.184 per 1000 of population. It
is thus farther obvious that even when the burghs are excluded the rate
is distinctly high for a mainland-rural district. The facts given below of
the special localities will show that this high rate is pretty uniformly
realised even in the minor areas.

(c.) Rates in Burghs. - The total population of Newton-Stewart,
Whithorn, and Wigtown was at the last census 5242. In these three
burghs 139 deaths occurred. This gives a death-rate of 26.410 per 1000
of population. A comparison with the figures already given will show
that this also is a high rate, and resembles more the current rates of the
principal town districts than the low rates usually found in small towns.
Thus, for the three quarters spoken of the rates for the small town
districts were 20.9, 19.5, and 16.4 respectively. Every test we apply,
therefore, still makes it necessary to pronounce 26.4 per 1000, a high rate
for small towns. Nor do the figures for the individual burghs improve
the case; rather the contrary. For Wigtown, with a population of 1509,
shows a death-rate of 21.8 per 1000; Whithorn, with a population of
1401, shows a death-rate of 23.5 per 1000; and Newton-Stewart, with a
population of 2332, shows a death-rate of 31.2 per 1000. And these
figures cannot be assigned entirely to the exceptional ravages of influenza,
which has disturbed the death-rates in almost every district in Britain.
The influenza deaths in Wigtown and Whithorn I am not able to give,
but in Newton-Stewart 8 deaths were due to influenza. Let these be
deducted and the death-rate still remains 27.8 per 1000. This, too, is
a somewhat arbitrary figure. For if we included in Newton-Stewart the
area still on the Cree side, but extending a little beyond the police
boundary north and south, the deathrate would be more than 31 per
1000. From any point of view, then, the Newton-Stewart death-rate
must be pronounced exceptionally high. A full discussion of this death-
rate I am not here concerned to institute; such a matter would require
a special report. But I may add that for the high death-rate of Newton-
Stewart I was not unprepared; partly on general grounds, partly on the
ground that the highest death-rate of the four Stewartry districts is the
death-rate of the Western (21.9 per 1000). The reasons for assimi-
lating this district to Newton-Stewart will be found in the Western
District report. Further, the detailed analysis of the death-rate shows
that the high rate of Newton-Stewart is not due to any special class of
diseases. The county report will show whether the same rates have
been maintained for a long period, or whether the present year is a
passing increase. In any case the matter is one for special investigation.
These facts I respectfully recommend to the Police Commissioners of
Newton-Stewart.