THE VITAL STATISTICS OF NEW ZEALAND.

Evening Star, Issue 4306, 14 December 1876, Page 2

THE VITAL STATISTICS OF NEW ZEALAND.

f T olu “ e o f statistics for the Colony for 1875. issued from the Registrar-General? I t^® 18 ,. coll ) f cted . the heading, a quantity of informTtwn about the births, marriages, and deaths which took place in the Colony during that year- Tte >esent Registrar-General seems to have made this branch of his duty a speciahty, and m many cases, goes into details whmh appear to be more curious useful. Indeed, the Vital Statistics, as a whole, require to be carefully scanned, and large allowances made in order to comprehend their true significance ; and it 18 . e3 “remely rash to compare them, for scientific purposes, with the vital statistics of a populous country like Great Britain as is frequently done. These statistics ’are subject to all kinds of local disturbing influences. Turning, for example, to the birth tables: they show that while in 1871 the “t.® y? 8 40 64 P er thousand persons, in 1874 it was 40.05 only, while the intervening years gave 39.50 and 38.99 per thousand respectively, the explanation being that an extensive immigration was going on during the period, largely composed of unmarried persons. Numerous illustrations of the same kind might be quoted ; but keeping in view the necessity for such qualifications, the Registrar’s tobies are well worth study. Let us take first the interesting topic of marriage. To a mean population of 358.858 persons, there were 3,209 marriages (each requiring, of course, two principals), the matrimonial market being briskest in Hawke’s Bay and Wellington, the former -Province furnishing contracting parties at the rate of 24 50 per 1,000 persons, and the latter atthe per 1,000, whereas Ot&go contnbuted 17.88 only. Westland seems to be a very bad place-for spinsters, its.proportion of marriages being .the lowest in the Colony. The Reristiar-Gteheral affirms that ‘ ‘Hhe New Zealand rate is higher than that which prevails m any, of; the Australian Colonies except Queensland: id the latter thh persons matned averaging 18.28 per . of the population,” the New Zealand mean for 1876 being 17.88 per .1,000. The New Zealand ladies will, nevertheless be sorhr to hear that, taking the decade from 1866 to* 1875 inclusive, .there .has been a steady decline (as a commercial reporter vronld say) in hymeneal business, the proportion, of marnages having sunk from 10.32 per 1,000 of the population in 1866 to: 8,94 in 1875, uie prosperity of the past three or four years having thus failed to raise the rate to the old standard. A. Lex Julia, will Vet require to be enacted in New Zealand. > The bulk of the men who now, take upon themselves the matrimonial yoke do so between the ages of 25 and SO years, . although nearly as many venture upon the step between.2o anti 26.' After 30 they get more chary, the proEortions disclosed in the 1 present statistics sing 26 to 30 years, 983; SO to 35, 646. The ladies, on the other hand,-Mostly “go off ” between 21 and 25; 0ut0f5,209 married last year, 1,216 were wedded between these ages. One precocious damsel, however, surrendered her' heart and hand ere she had reached her fifteenth summer, while twelve foolish viigins got married before they were sixteen. . \

Children are a not uncommon consequence of marriage. 14,438 were bom in 1875 ; 7,490 boys and 6,948 girls, being at the rate of 107.8 boys to every. 100 girls. The proportion in England is 104 boys to 100 girls; and we reallydo not see why it should be different here. [Will the doctors kindly explain T The proportion of illegitimate children looks rather favoraffie to theOolouy, being only 1.36 per cent, ofthebirths i egistered, while in England it is 5.2 per cent. We should be very glad to believe that, .tire discrepancy is a real. one, but we|. fear; that it is rather attributable to the non-registration of many of these births id the Colony, especially in country districts, than to superior virtue; and tins belief, is confirmed by the fact of the New Zealimdmalmage rate being very sUghtly in ezoeMrof'the Vlthniiofr, seeing how'much* the suurnage rate ism* fluenoed by the material prosperity of the people, it ought to be considerably higher, 58|712 perions died during the year, se at the excess :d! births over was 8,726, notrithstanding that the mortfility wm oigh, nnn^ti g tp 15.88 pec thousand of the population, the. highest Tate which had been attained for twiyeariu JXhe, death-rate of children was, however, lower than in 1874. Measles' was epidemic dnring the year, and carried off‘224 children under five years of age } while 458 fell victims to diarrhosa and' dysentery. Bit among mere infants the natality was unusually great, and the

inotMM vu particularly mwk*d In th e larger borough*, The death-rate, in there boroughs is altogether much in excess of the average for the Colony, and it varies greatly in the different boroughs themselves. Dunedin ranks third on the list, the Thames standing first, and Hokitika second. The death-rate of Bonedin is only 22.24 per 1,000, while that of Christchurch is 30.44; of Wellington, 26.01 ; and of Auckland 35.77. This table is an excellent illustration of the need for the caution we gave just now. A person residing at a distance would be apt to conclude that the Thames is the healthiest borough in the Colony, whereas, we apprehend that the true interpretation of the difference between its death rate and that of Auckland, to which it lies so close, is that a large proportion of the Thames population consists of male adults, engaged in the healthy pursuit of mining, andrchildreo are comparatively scarce, while Auckland is an onlinary commercial town; and, moreover, the Registrar General, following an old practice of his office which would he mere honored in the breach than the observance, has excluded from his computation the healthiest parts of it—namely, Parnell and’ Newton, which are technically regarded as st'PiMrate townships from Auckland. The list of deaths from violence is a heavy one, although not heavier proportionately than the .list for 1874. Altogether 437 persons died in this way, of whom 164 were drowned. There were 29 suicides, 6 by females.