§ MR. HERBERT SAMUELTo ask the President of the Local Government Board if he will state what is the death rate per 1,000 births of infants under the age of twelve months in the urban and the rural districts respectively of England and Wales.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) The best available information on this subject will be found on pages lxxiii. and lxxiv. of the Registrar-General's Sixty-sixth Annual Report, which contains tables showing the infantile mortality—(a) for a group of counties that are mainly urban; and (b) for a group of counties that are mainly rural in character. The following particulars are taken from these tables:—
| Infantile Mortality—Deaths under one year of age per 1,000 births. | ||
| Averages for the years 1898–1902. | Year 1903. | |
| Urban Counties | 165 | 143 |
| Rural Counties | 126 | 107 |