VITAL STATISTICS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4214, 22 September 1874, Page 3

VITAL STATISTICS.

The following letter, oil the subject of the comparative healthiness : of Colonial towns, and signed “ Michael Hart,” appears in the Lyttelton Tirn'es:—'-' "■■■ < Having'J received the Registrar-General’s report of the vital statistics of the seven several viz., Auckland, Thames, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Hokitika, I proceed to lay the following conclusions before your readers. That Christchurch, with a population amounting after last March census to 10,915, has had during the month of August last 25 deaths registered ; while in Dunedin, the most thickly populated borough in the Colony, having at last census a population of 18,199, during a like period only 35 deaths were registered. Wellington, with a population of 10,517, reaches only 16 deaths for the same month. The increased . death rate in Christchurch is shown by the following proportion of deaths to

Auckland and Hokitika I do not take, as their hospitals are outside the' borough, and this would affect the returns. Of the deaths in Christchurch, 17 were of children under five years of age; that is two more than in Dunedin, and ten more than in Wellington of children of a like age. Prom the report I quote the following:—• “More deaths occurred from diseases of the respiratory system in Christchurch than in any other borough; in Auckland there were two; in Dunedin, two; in Christchurch, eleven; and in Wellington five deaths of this class.” These are facts which speak for themselves, and I recommend them to the earnest consideration of the City Council, as I am convinced that the time has arrived, and cannot longer be put off, when it behoves us to take the requisite steps to relieve Christchurch from the stigma of being indisputably the most unhealthy borough in the Colony.

the 1000 of population ; — Christchurch ... 2-12 Dunedin , ... 1-89 Wellington ... 1-51 Thames... , ... ... I’ll Nelson ... ... 0’70