If it is said on reading this paper, There is nothing in it, I answer,
That is why I wrote it, because there is nothing in it, in order that
something might come out of nothing. It is to show that statistics,
capable of affording complete _practical_ results when wanted, have
scarcely made a beginning in the colonies. It is to show that when the
Colonial Office, with great labour and no little cost, has collected,
and I, with the same, have reduced these materials, they are incapable
of giving all the beneficial information expected. The material does
not exist, or, if it does, it is in a very _undeveloped_ state. Such
as it is, I have tried to do the best I could with it. And this is the
result.
Several years ago, before Sir George Grey returned to his government
at the Cape, I had a conversation with him on a subject which had
dwelt very much on his mind, viz., the gradual disappearance of the
aboriginal races from the neighbourhood of civilized communities. One
of the points raised in the discussion was the probable effect which
European school usages and school education might exercise on the
health of the children of parents and of races who had never hitherto
been brought under education.
Colonial school returns.
It appeared of great importance to ascertain, if possible, the precise
influence which school training exercised on the health of native
children. And I applied to the Colonial Office for aid in carrying
out such an inquiry. The Duke of Newcastle entered warmly into the
subject, and offered at once to call for any information which might
throw light on it. I had a simple school form prepared and printed,
copies of which were sent by the Colonial Office to the Governors of
the various colonies. Returns were made from a large number of schools,
but as no information has been received from many more, I presume the
school statistics did not afford the means of supplying the required
information. {4}
I have received, through the Colonial Office, filled up returns from
143 schools, in Ceylon, Australia, Natal, West Coast of Africa, British
North America, the results of which are given in the accompanying
series of tables.
[Sidenote: pp. 20 to 26.]
Table A. gives the name and date of opening of each school, the numbers
of years included in the Return, the average number of native children,
their sexes and ages for quinquennial periods, together with the
mortality for the period included in the return. The results of this
table for all the colonial schools are given in the reduction Table A.
a., which states the total average attendance for all the schools in
each colony, together with the total deaths, arranged in quinquennial
periods, so far as it could be done. This table merely gives the
general numerical results; but as the periods vary considerably it has
been necessary to reduce the data under one common denomination, to
obtain the absolute annual rate of mortality. This has been done in the
Tables B, C, D, E, F, which show the years of life and the mortality
for each sex and age.
[Sidenote: p. 26.]
Table A. a. shows that the average attendance of all ages at these
schools has been 7,485 boys, and 2,453 girls, making a total of 9,938
as the number of children on whom the rate of mortality has been
obtained. A small proportion of these children, only 672 boys and 422
girls, were under 5 years of age. There were 3,546 (2,651 boys and 895
girls) between the ages of 5 and 10. Between the ages of 10 and 15
there were 3,268 children, viz., 2,288 boys, and 980 girls. At the age
of 15 and upwards there were 1,391 boys, and only 156 girls, attending
school.
The total deaths, for the various periods, on this school attendance
were 451 boys and 132 girls, of all ages, besides 79 boys and 39 girls
who are returned as leaving school _annually_ to die at home. It is
important to remark that, out of a total average school attendance of
9,938, only 235 boys and 82 girls are stated to leave school annually
from ill-health.
[Sidenote: pp. 27, 28.]
The relative mortality of boys and girls attending these schools is
shown by Tables B. to F.
The death rate, it will be observed, varies considerably in different
colonies. It is least among the native children at Natal, where a
little more than five males per 1,000 and three females per 1,000 die
annually. The Ceylon schools give a death rate of 14 1/2 per 1,000 per
{5} annum for boys and about 3 per 1,000 per annum for girls. But,
including deaths among children who leave school to die at home, this
rate would be nearly doubled.
The Indian schools in Canada afford a total annual death rate of 12 1/2
per 1,000 for both sexes; but the mortality of girls is nearly double
that of boys.
The Sierra Leone schools afford a very high rate of mortality, viz., 20
per 1,000 for males, and 35 per 1,000 for females.
The Western Australian schools yield the highest death rate of any,
nearly 35 per 1,000 for boys and 13 per 1,000 for girls.
These death rates are of course only approximations to the truth. But
on any supposition they are very high.
It is important to compare these death rates with those of children of
the same ages at home. But we have only the means of doing so for 5
years of age and onwards. The home rates are given in Table E., which
shows that from 5 to 10 the total mortality of both sexes is 9·2 per
1,000 at home. From 10 to 15 it is 5·3 per 1,000. Above 15 the home
mortality is 8·4 per 1,000. Making allowance for native children dying
at home, we shall be within the truth in assuming the mortality of
native children at school as double that of English children of the
same ages.
[Sidenote: Table G, p. 29.]
The next point of the inquiry is to ascertain the nature of the fatal
diseases. And here we find a remarkable difference in the returns from
different colonies. Thus out of 190 deaths in the Sierra Leone schools,
all except 8 are due to small pox, measles, and hooping cough, scarlet
fever, and other forms of fever.
In the Ceylon schools these same diseases, with the addition of
diarrhœa, dysentery, and cholera, give rise to 261 deaths out of a
total mortality of 341. In contrast with this great prevalence of
miasmatic diseases, the West Australian schools yield only 2 deaths
from children’s epidemics, out of a total mortality of 9.
In the Natal schools three children died of miasmatic diseases out of a
total mortality of 16, while in the Canadian schools there is only one
miasmatic death out of a total mortality of 27.
The adult natives at many of the colonies are considered specially
subject to tubercular diseases, more particularly consumption. This
class of diseases is indeed supposed to be a main cause of the gradual
decline and disappearance of uncivilized or semi-civilized races. {6}