H.—3l.

PART lI.—PUBLIC HYGIENE. 1 have the honour to submit my annual report for the year ended 31st March, 1931 It is necessarily brief and devoid of graphs, owing to need of economy. SECTION I,—VITAL STATISTICS. POPULATION. The mean population of the Dominion for 1930 (exclusive of Maoris) was estimated to be 1,425,084. This total represents an increase over the corresponding figure for the previous year of 18,142, or a percentage increase of population of 1-29. BIRTHS. The births of 26,797 living children were registered in the Dominion during 1930, as against 26,747 in 1929. The birth-rate for 1930 was thus 18-80 per 1,000 of mean population. Tlie general course of the birth-rate during the last five years is shown in the following table • — Births (Number and Rate) in New Zealand, 1926-30. Total Number Birth-rate per Year. of 1,000 of Mean Births registered. Population. 1926 .. .. .. .. .. 28,473 21-05 1927 .. .. .. .. .. 27,881 20-29 1928 .. .. .. .. .. 27,200 19-56 1929 .. .. .. .. .. 26,747 19-01 1930 .. .. .. .. .. 26,797 18-80 The birth-rate steadily declines. There were 26,797 births for a population of 1,425,084, and there were 12,199 deaths, the difference or natural increase being 14,598 persons, or 1-0 per cent, only of the total population. Back in 1870 the natural increase was 3-1 per cent. DEATHS. The total number of deaths (12,199) registered during the year 1930, as compared with 12,314 in 1929, shows a decrease of 115. Crude Death-rates. Crude Death-rate Crude Death-rate Year. per 1,000 Mean Year. per 1,000 Mean Population. Population. "1926 .. .. 8-74 1929 .. .. 8-75 1927 .. .. 8-45 1930 .. .. 8-56 1928 .. .. 8-49 New Zealand has a very low general death-rate, but, owing to the steadily reducing birth-rate, her annual natural increase of population is only 1-0 per cent. STILL-BIRTHS. Still-births, which are defined by the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1924 as " children which have issued from their mother after the expiration of the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, and which were n»t alive at the time of such issue," are compulsorily registrable in the Dominion. The next table shows the number of such births and their rate per 1,000 live births in individual years for the quinquennium 1926-30. Still-births (Number and Rate) in New Zealand, 1926-30. Total Number Rate of Still-births Year. of Still-births per 1,000 registered. Live Births. 1926 .. .. .. .. .. 886 31-1 1927 .. .. .. .. .. 878 31-5 1928 .. .. .. .. .. 839 30-8 1929 .. .. .. ... ..870 32-5 1930 .. .. .. .. .. 865 32-3 (Note. —Still-births are not included, either as births or deaths, in the various numbers and rates given elsewhere in this report.)

5