The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1912-08-16
HEALTH REPORT
SHOWS GROWTH
Or. Pratt Summarizes Work of
Twelve Months in State
ment for Governor.

Summarizing the work of the board
of health for the past year in fourteen
pages, DR.. j. S. b. Pratt, president of
the board, has handed his annual re-
port to Governor Frear and the chief
! executive is now working it's data
into his own annual report to the sec.
retary of the interior.
Summaries of the vital statistics
were given fully, with figures setting
forth the general health of the Terri.
tory. The advance in matters of
sanitation recently made throughout
the islands was touched on at length
and DIR. Pratt dwelt briefly on some
of the future plans of the board which
include the retaining of sanitary en-
gineer to assist it in works of greater
| magnitude than it now can undertake.
His report says, in part, as follows:
cone of the most important mat
ters carried on by the board has been
the campaign of education, and
great deal of time has been devoted
to this. An earnest effort has been
made to arouse public and individual
| interest in health and sanitation. Only
a beginning has been made, yet we
hope to accomplish much more in the
future, particularly in the education of
school children, for in the younger
generation lies the greatest hope of
better health conditions and improved
sanitation.
I" Plantation sanitation has received
great deal of attentiOn-a slow, but
steady advance has been made in the
improvements of conditions in planta.
tion camps. Plantation agents and
managers are realizing that there is
no better health insurance than that
of having good houses, well ventilated,
and sanitary means for the disposal
of sewage. Throughout the entire Ter.
ritory the conditions in plantation
camps are being improved and the
board greatly appreciates the assist.
ance which the majority of managers
have given to the bettering of sanitary
conditions. If the same advance had
been made by individuals in cities and
towns as has been made on planta.
tions, the death rate would have been
much less
"fThe work of the department has
|
the other hand it has been a source
of qualification that the public has
been so generally back of the efforts
of the board to improve conditions.
The board needs the cooperation of
the public to make effective the work
it is trying to do.
| GAS to the future, there are many
problems to be solved, particularly in
the City of Honolulu. Tenement house
conditions, sewerage, garbage disposal,
new streets opened, wet agriculture,
pig and duck ranches, milk supply, and
| filing in of low and insanitary lands
may be mentioned as some of the
most important. Most of these will
require some additional laws but the
most important work will be the edu-
cation of the public to the necessity
of these improvements start has
been made in this direction and will
be continued during the coming year.
"The appointment of a sanitary en-
gineer as a member of the board was
an advance in the right direction but
the engineering problems of the
board have increased so much that it
is planned to have a sanitary en-
gineer employed regularly. Negotia-
tions are already under way and it is
hoped they will be successful.
''The educational work will be car
ried on more extensively in the fu-
ture than during the past year
"While there have been no serious
epidemies, yet during the year four
dangerous conditions have arisen name.
ly, case of yellow fever in the city
of Honolulu six cases of plague at Ho
nokaa and Kapulena, Island of Hawaii;
twentyfour cases of scarlet fever ON
the Island of Maui, and forty-two
cases of diphtheria on the Island OF
Kauai.
Pneumonia caused 342 deaths; tn.
berculosis 1863, enteric fever 80; teta.
nus Is; diphtheria II and scarlet fe'
yer Q.
"The total deaths from all causes
was 3071, or 225 less than the previ
GUS year. On the basis of popula
ton of 19l 900 this is at the rate OF
l6.002 plus, per 1000 as compared will
1874 plus, the previous year. Their,
were 202 deaths in the Territory du,
to accident, violence suicide, etc, i
these were deducted, the death rat,
. from disease alone would be much less
There were excluding stillbirths
,O57 deaths in Honolulu which would
| on a basis of 52,ls3 population, max
the percentage 20.255 plus. In Homo
lulu there were 80 deaths due to acci
= dents, violence, etc.
I +" Reported births number 5,l47, n
a increase of 653 over the last perio
5 and were divided as foilows Hone
t lulu l,4S0; Oahu outside Honolulu 7Sg
Hawaii l,456; Kauai GIL; Maui 906.
J. "There were 2,Ss2 marriages, an il
crease of GIG over the previous p,
Rod