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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5527, 13 December 1878, Page 2

Exclusive of Maoris, the population of New Zealand on the 3rd of March, 1878, was 114,400. On the Ist of January of the same year the estimated population of Victoria was 860,700, no allowance being made for aboriginal natives. Tor all practical purposes of comparison our population here may therefore be regarded as being equal to half of that of our Victorian neighbors. It is easy to extract information in a form that may prove to be of practical service from a study of the published statistics of both colonies. In an article from the Argus, recently published in our columns, it was said that the rate of increase in the population of New Zealand had been far greater during the past five years than in Victoria, the respective rateot increase being in the latter caseOperoent,, against 42 per cent, within this colony. No doubt, as stated in the abovenamed paper, this superior rate of increase is largely due to the Vogel policy of immigration and public works, but we believe not alone to this cause. The birth-rate in Victoria has been steadily decreasing during the past five years, the table published in the Victorian Year-book showing the following results :

If this disparity is maintained during the next decade, our natural 'increase of population would be at a much faster rate than that of Victoria, if not checked by a higher average of deaths. The death-rate per 1000 can also be readily ascertained by a reference to the same volume of New Zealand Statistics, which sets forth that the death-rate in New Zealand had fallen from 15 92 in 1875 to 12'66 in 1876. The number of deaths in 1877, as published in the “Victorian Year-book,” were only 4685, as against 4904 in 1876, which after making due allowance for the increase of population, will probably give us one of the lowest death-rates during the past year that have yet been noted. The mean death-rate of the Australasian colonies during the ten years from 1866 to 1776 is set forth in the “Victorian Year-book” for 1879 as follow :—Victoria, 15 - 92 per 1000 : New South Wales, 15- ; Queensland, 18’01 j South Australia, 16 - ; Western Australia, 16'21 ; Tasmania, 1-4-95; New Zealand, 12-41. The mean deathrate in the United Kingdom from 1871 to 1875 was 2T6, so that even the lowest of the colonies stands higher in the list than the mother country. But it is not by any means certain that this pre-eminence will be long maintained in some colonies. A colony is constantly receiving fresh supplies of young and healthy immigrants, and the number of old or sick persons in tho colonies is therefore relatively small, Many years must elapse, and immigration cease, before any comparison can be fairly instituted between a colony and the United Kingdom. The rate of infantile mortality is generally regarded as a more reliable indication of the natural healthiness of a people, which may be duo to climate or to the nature of the pursuits of the inhabitants, and this test when applied to New Zealand gives an equally satisfactory result. The mean death-rate per 100 of children under one year old m tho various colonies during the past ton years is as follows:—Tasmania, 16-OX ; New Zealand, 10-25 • New South Wales, 10 52; Victoria, 12-50 j Queensland, 12'69 ; South _ Australia, X 5 6X ; the death-rate of infants in England being 15-4. In the case of Victoria it is necessary to boar in mind that tho infant mortality m largo towns is always great; and Melbourne alone, with an average death-rate of about 17 per cent, under the above table, lowers the position of Victoria in tho scale in relation to tho sister colonies very considerably; out-

side of Melbourne and tbe suburbs the infant mortality being only at the rate of 10'20 per 100, or about the same as in New Zealand. The most obvious lesson to be learnt from the above series of tables and figures is that the healthiness of New Zealand as a whole is decidedly superior to that of most, if not all, of her neighbors. With the highest birth-rate of any of the colonies during the past five years and a remarkably low death-rate, the increase of population in New Zealand is likely to be very rapid, independently of any immigration. The knowledge of _ this healthiness, as shown by the statistics of the colony, when it once becomes established and generally recognised as a fact, will tend to increase the number of immigrants to our shores. The claims of New Zealand as a sanitorium for invalids from India or the neighboring colonies will probably grow daily more and more apparent. It is scarcely necessary to add that at present there is hardly, a single town in the colony which can boast of a satisfactory system of drainage, and when the sanitary reform of our towns is complete, we may reasonably hope for a still lower rate of mortality than we can now record. \

Victoria. New Zealand. Birth-rate per 1000. Birth-rate per 1000. *tsi" 1873 .. .. 3601 1S74 .. .. 33'5G 1874 . .. 4005 ks*g 1875 .. .. 8278 1875 . . .. 40-23 B 1876 .. 32-23 1870 .. 4173 1877 .. .. 30-60 1877 . about 40'60y Em 35