, 1876-07-15

9,767, Notwithstanding the loss of 20, 408 by
emigration during that period. The population
having been 162,O42 in 1871, has risen to
10000 up to the 31st of December, 1875,
showing an increase in the FIVE years of QS71.5)
$4,000, as compared with an increase of 9,767
IN the previous ten years (1S61-70), and at
this rate, unless pestilenoe, need, or emigration
Intervene, in 1881 the population will reach
200, 900,
at would have been $4,000 for the last five
years but for the frightful mortality among
children. The loss of these has been put down
by an eminent clergyman at 1000 per annum.
lie has described these as 'preventable deaths,
and advised the Government of Demerara to
establish founding hospitals in Barbados to
save and rear the infants for the labour market
of that colony, Barbados being innocent OIL
the possession of any such humane institutions.
"1n the annual report on the accounts for
1874, it was stated that Among the labouring
population and the poor a large proportion Of
deaths occur in Infancy, or in early childhood,
as is we'll known to the clergy because testified
by their registers and there can be little
doubt that they are, in too many instances,
the result of neglect and want Of medical
advice.
"In the Governors Report upon the Popula-
~ ~ tAC A2AtiNy iOhIACN AH0G Ia ibA1O
Censuses taken in 1851, 1861, aud 1871, it is
stated at paragraph lG, page 81, The want
OF a system Of registration renders it difficult
to say whether the mortality among children is
greatly in excess of the normal rate. 1t can
scarcely be doubted that such must be the
case, and that there is a large amount Of cura-
Bile disease which becomes fatal for want of me-
deal treatment; but believe that this may be
attributed less to the neglect Of parents or to
the apathy or Indifference Of the population
than to the difficulty of procuring prompt
medical advice in many parts of the rural dis
trlcts, and TO the inability of the lab0uring
classes to pay for such advice, for which reason
they too frequently abstain from seeking it until
the ease is beyond cure
"In a%letter dated December 9, 1875, publish
cd in the Bar6adoes Times, February 9, 1876,
emanating from the pen of the Rev, P. Bruce
Austin, the delegate Of the Defence Associa-
ton, which has been published recently, it is
stated L have long desired to see a found
ling hospital established ia Barbados at the
expense and for the benefit of Demerara, The
clergy are about the only persons here proba-
bly, who are aware Of the awful sacrifice of
infant life during the damper colder months Of
the year. The public will, no doubt, be some-
what startled at the statistics Of infant mOrtali-
ty now being obtained by the Poor Relief
Commission. The great majority of these poor
infants are i%llegitimate. The mothers do not
themselves know who the fathers are, or they
are married men with wives and families which
they are scarcely able to support or, if IN
married, having prior claims Of the same sort
fully taxing all resources. The Poor Law in
Barbados is terribly defective, and the oonse-
quence is the large crop of infant deaths.
The parents Of the mother often discard her
for msSajLiancc, and in her weekly state she is
unable to support herself, much less her infant.
When death takes her child she is more than
resigned, if she has not by deliberate neglect
(Which l believe is only too common fastened
its approach. | estimate roughly the yearly
deaths of iIlegitimate children in Barbados
through preventable causes at little {if at all
short Of 1,000. Now, I believe, that were
there some institution where these children
could be received a few days after their birth,
four-ffths of them could by care and attention
be saved aud trained into useful members oil
society. l propose, therefore, that Demerara
should establish such an institution here, into
which the larger portion of the infants now
all probability be brought by the unhappy
mothers who would unqlestionably prefer the
more innocent alternative Of getting rid OF
their eneumbranoes.'
Nautilus in his essay on population states
that there is a constant tendency in animal life
to increase beyond the n%ourishment prepared
Tor 1t, and that therefore unless there are some
checks ul3cad unon manhattan tba to4aI ,,ro