EDUCATION AND INFIRMITY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 62, 31 July 1912, Page 5

EDUCATION AND INFIRMITY

SOME INTERESTING FIGURES. By Telegraph—Parliamentary Reporter. Wellington. Last Night. There are some interesting details relating to the education and'infirmity of the people as disclosed by the census of 1911, published iu the. official results. From this it appears that of the people of all ages whose qualifications were recorded 15.85 per cent, could not read, and of specified ages above five years 4.10 per cent could not read. Between the ages of five to ten years the census discovered 28,278 persons who could not read, from ten to fifteen 314, from fifteen to twenty 233, from twenty to twentyfive 240. from twenty-five to thirty 293, from thirty to thirty-five 318. from .thirty-five to forty 358, from fortv to forty-five 383, from fortv-five to 'fifty 494, from fifty to fifty-five 593, from fifty-five to sixty Gli7,* from sixty to sixty-five Cs!i, from sixty-five to seventy 831, from seventy to 'seventy-five 707. Of the New Zealand-born the figures show that 144.040 of all ages could not read, and that of persons of specified ages 143,981 could not read. Also striking are the figures relating to infirmity, to person's classed as deaf and dumb, blind, lunatics and feebleminded. At the date of the census the specified infirmities were numbered as under:—Deaf and dumb 301, blind 482. lunatics 3741, feebleminded 777. The remarkable feature of the return is thatshowing the number of afflicted up to' 20 years of age as follows:—Deaf and dumb 14, blind 48, lunatics 132, feebleminded 213. The proportion of .such afflicted to every ten thousand of the population is 51.94, made up as follows: Deaf and dumb 2.99 per 10,000. blind 4.77. Juuaties 3(i.o(i, feebleminded 7.02. It is interesting to note that of the deaf and dumb population twenty cannot read and write (they are children), 39 are attending Government schools, nine are farm assistants, and '59 (females) are engaged in domestic duties.