VITAL STATISTICS FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER OF THE YEAR 1914.

There were 17,098 deaths reported during this quarter, and a death rate of 12.16 per 1,000 of the population, as against 17,141 deaths and a death rate of 12.66 for the corresponding quarter of 1913, a decrease of 43 deaths and .51 of a point in the death rate.

If we compare the returns for this quarter with the average of the corresponding quarters for the preceding five years, corrected to correspond with increase in population, a decrease from all causes during the past quarter of 2,642 deaths is shown.

All the infectious and contagious diseases were considerably below the average for this quarter, as were those from tuberculosis of the lungs and from diarrhoeal diseases.

The single cause of death which stands out prominently by reason of an increased mortality is organic disease of the heart. All the other degenerative diseases, such as chronic Bright's Disease of the kidneys, cirrhosis of the liver, apoplexy, and diseases of the arteries, showed marked decreases in mortality.

The number of births reported during this quarter was 34,829, against 33,655 in the corresponding quarter of 1913, an increase of 1,174 births.

The marriages reflected the depressed economic conditions prevailing, and showed a decrease from 13,516 in 1913 to 13,312 in 1914, a decrease of 204.