PDF (Whole thesis) - UTas ePrints - University of Tasmania

240
'j
considered themselves so well cared for at the height of the epidemic
that they pub licly thanked their Medical Officer and Superintendent for
the care bestowed on them and induced Hall to declare :
Such an -acknow 1 edgmen t for any pub li c est ab 1 ishmen t -of
Tasmania is so novel that I am but too happy to make
record of such a change in the treatment of any of our
afflicted fellow creatures dependent upon pub lic car e,
whether young or old, bond or free, sane or insane.
Undoubtedly, the crisis was over, and Hobarton 's institutions
were on the road to recovery and ultimate health;
no illusions about the effort still required.
nevertheless , Hall had
Of the 114 deaths in July, nine only occurred in the
rural portion of this registration district, though its
population is rather more than one -fourth of the who le.
The city deaths would be about one in 176 of the
population ; the extra-urban, one in 688, or but little
less than one-fourth of the urban rate. In England,
while urban mortality averages twenty-five in the thousand
per annum, in the rural districts,it is only about
nineteen per thousand, that is six per thousand - or
twenty-five per cent - less. After making due allowance
for all the disturbing influences in Hobarton, such an
immense disparity b tween its mortality, and that of its
rural neighbourhood, is indicative of the existence of local
causes injurious to health and life, as powerful as those
which have been so thoroughly demonstrated in the worst
cities of the old country. Little sanitary knowledge is
required to dis cover the "fount of evi 1" in a city where
the water supply is altogether short of its requirements ;
drainage as defective as possib le; cesspools everywhere,
efficient ventilation nowhere; and quantities of
decomposed food constantly sold and consumed . The
meteorological conditions .... show how necessary it is
that all these matters should speedily be reformed if the
city of Hobart is to enjoy that exemption from disease,
which its a d mirab le locality and generally very salubrious
climate demands as its inherent right . l
In the "New Colonial Society" Hall continued to press for
reform with the same vigour and determination with which he had struggled
, .
to inflict unpalatable truths on the Convict Reg1me.
However,
circumstances were much more in his favour : now fifty-six years of age ,
with a world wide reputation as a medical statistician and a sanitarian,
he faced the new decade of the sixties , supremely confident in the
correctness of his mission, convinced that the evils of Hobarton were
due to local and remediable caus es , and heartened by the improvements
which were slowly gaining ground ;
the residents, too, for the most part,
understood and appreciated his efforts ; whatever their feelings ,
1 A.M.J. , October 1860 , pp. 252-269 .