CENSUS INFORMATION.

Hokitika Guardian, 31 March 1923, Page 4

CENSUS INFORMATION.

W.IN OK NKW XKAI.AXDFRS. AVFT. 1.1 XGTOX, March 2G. ! A gradually iNr-iensing age of flip j community i- becoming apparent in ; Nrv: Zealand. Thi- may bo (100. not j only to 0 genera! improvement in tnn--1 flitions which make for good health. : Imt also a number of oilier factors; deI m rilit'sl in detail by flip Government | .Statistician when dealing with agodistribiilion a; disclosed by the last I census. Tile Dominion lias (lumped rennuk- ; ably in regard to its nge distribution I during the last half century. In the i eaily days, the figures showed a hit'll ! proportion of these in the very early 1 years, and the years nf early manhood, j Imt the population was below normal , in res pod. to other stages of life, not- | ably eld age. A hijzK birth rale ; (almost double that of the present | day) and heavy immigration of youths j and men up to middle age. accounted j mainly for tins position, and now it has | changed to an extraordinary extent. ! Taking the group of ages from ! twenty-one years to thirty-nine inrlnsivo. which might be termed the effective working ages of the popula-

tion, it is seen from the statistics that | this class liftv year- ago numbered nearly 1.1 per cent of the population. To-day it has ill upped to just under 00 per (cut. Tint the increasing are rage is shown in the fact that in the next group- ages forty to iorty-livo the proportion in 1907 was not finite ten lor cent., while te-day it total; 175 per cent. IXKM K.XZA AND AVAR. Conspicuous changes from (lie nnrI nwl have been enu.-eo by the (Irene I AVar. and the influenza epidemic nl ! 1919-19. The Statistician p inis out i that the war was the came of the loss to the Dominion of seventeen thousand I men of couth to middle age. it also ; operated indirectly by causing a con- ! siderablc decrease in the both rate. I and a lompcr.irv cessation of immigri- | lion. As fur the inllucnza epidemic. | the report say- : ‘'The disease within j a few months accounted fur over six I thousand lives. Strangely the classes [ most severely attached were tin se ! ordinarily comparatively immune, the groups comprising .youth and middle age. Another peculiarity was that the males suffered twice as severely as the females. The effect of these clinoinia! factors is shown in a calculation of what the populaimi would have been in 11/21 had the proportions of ten years ago been pre.-et veil. Compared v. itli the actual position, ii is ■ ho" ii that in the age groups from Iv.entv to thirty-four. New Zealand is ; J.l i to i|ic extent of I!).till males ■ ami :M.:!:’() females. Rut lb ■■ later lay groups have' been extended. ill lye i ill; the general eimelosion which the Siei i ticiati has formed regarding | the situati n in New Zealand. Looking ui Die liguro; from the viewpoint of military service, it is stated I'mi compared with pre-war days that section from wliich Senior* Cadets tire drawn has increased appreciably. On the other hand, tile group covering thc.-e ul territorial age (18-21) has been almost stationary, while the Reserve i group (25-291 lity- fallen heavily, i TIT K COXODKRLVG DUM A I,H By the I'htin evidence ol census figures tlie female population of New Zealand is soon destined to outnumber the males. The official comparison is made !u regard to adults, not the total i populations anil it is shown that males I now total .58.11 per cent, ol the adults, and the females 57.81. As tlf hitter I liguiv stood at 1 1 . 18 lorly years ago. j the St alid ii inn is moved to remark : | ‘TIt .- gn at disparity ol earlier year- ! I ,-t«i mi m.ilc ami fetutile adults t I rnpifll.v (lisapp-eaiing. If the pi' "I tendency is continued a- it nil 1 Ic in | all probability tie* iiuiuericni siioci mr- : i ( >■ of ma 1" adults mi v I ' :pet '"I to . i a n i.sh." Another important question ■ mi,, ('ii am: • tat: i:• s. that m 11 : i' I - !"'- ' fori I to e- ' ihi drill to ! 1, , N towu . : If. i.- .co.. Dm I '' •drill There i, e I•<•:i It h' rv'C ", young lives in rural population. ; inti a high".' birth rate i:i country ] districts but fro.n the up ol twenty onivt ul;. the urban communities have Ibe higlmr rat in." The c'oes-; in rat nl mail"; in urban district; ov.-r me!.'- ! in t oral district' Irmn the age of j twain, v-iivi onward- chords food lor re- | lb,lion »!ieii ir i • considered that the I Dmniiiicn is after all. a pi imary-pro- | dnciiig lountry anil that the great part | of its wee'll’ com: - from the pa I J'al ’ CKNTKXARIANS. Kiyhl eeiileiiai'laus were record'd by I , .i,- it. us com pa u d ";: b e deg; n b, t i lr j:• vieo- onumeraiion. (■ • nt■ -n----ari- 1 ■ ' en more iictuei .w- 1 1': r iim ibe !'-t iw. ut v year;. hot the reel'd va- held far hack a - 18'. I. " hcii a Tahitian native resident in a henev.i----|;.!11 iustitutii.il at Dunedin was said to bo aged llti, and this was hclieveil to be reasonably authentic. However, the statistician,’ so akin;: generally, inter;; lo the very natural tendency ul 'i ;l i"tcre ll lolv tig il individual to exaggei-ite Die age. ID thinks that probably lee; than hall ’those who claim to lie o er I/'; years have really reared lee ict.tui v. and i|i.iutcs in pruol the lad i between the l!)l(i and RC.M cnsiis date.-, four and a-half years e.-ip.-ed. Iwo males arc enumerated in last < d'siis -c Icing I ltd year; old hut the cardul Stnt'lsticiao ouiiiis out that t hry ‘ | have only come Iron, the group age., j I I til ill TRIG, yet their age- have uu lea-- j od '.iv vears in that period ot tnur aim j a-half years, pleasures are being led- I m, to make an independent check ol ovt rniif ggc-s recorded ill the h’.-t > m- |