APRIL 26.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 649

Vital Statistics, March, 1894.

REGISTRAR-GENERAL’S Report on the Vital Statistics of the Principal Towns of New Zealand during the Month of March, 1894:—

It has been remarked that the vital statistics of the four chief centres of population as given hitherto in the monthly reports are deficient in a most important particular—i.e., that in striking the death-rates the suburbs have not been represented and dealt with as well as the cities. It is, no doubt, important to show the mortality in the suburbs, and the rates may vary considerably from that of the centre in any case. There is, first of all, the factor of different sanitary conditions in the suburbs from those obtaining in the centre; but, besides this, when the area occupied by a city is to a great extent full of shops and warehouses, the population will, as time advances, include more and more caretakers, and fewer families with young children. The suburbs, on the other hand, will include many of these last. The death-rates will vary accordingly, apart from matters relating to sanitary conditions, but perhaps not so much so as might at first be thought likely, because with a high birth-rate in the suburbs there are sure to be many deaths of infants and very young children to raise the death-rate; and with a low birth-rate in a centre occupied by a population including many persons at the higher ages the death-rate may also be disproportionately increased.

In the table below the deaths and death-rates are given for each city, for its suburban boroughs, and for the city including the suburban towns. With regard to Auckland and Christchurch, the whole of what are usually considered the suburbs has not yet municipal government, and the vital statistics do not deal with the portions which still remain in the road districts. But the omission is not very important, for there is quite sufficient of suburbs included in borough boundaries in either case to give a fair idea of the death-rate of Greater Auckland and Greater Christchurch. As further boroughs are formed the vital statistics will be made to include them.

The great fact brought out by the first results obtained (month of March) is that after including the suburban boroughs the death-rate is not increased, but lowered, at Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin, while at Wellington the rate remains the same. The rates for March are,—

Death-rate per 1,000 of Population.

Auckland City .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1·82
" and five suburban boroughs .. .. .. .. 1·62
Wellington City .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 0·91
" and three suburban boroughs .. .. .. .. 0·91
Christchurch City .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 0·80
" and four suburban boroughs .. .. .. .. 0·65
Dunedin City .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 0·84
" and eight suburban boroughs .. .. .. .. 0·83

These figures speak sufficiently well for the healthiness of the surrounding parts as compared with that of the centres. The death-rate in the suburbs of Sydney was for several years prior to 1890 higher than the rate for that city.

The second and third tables given, which relate to “causes of death,” also deal for the first time with the mortality in the four chief cities, including the suburban boroughs.

RETURN of the Number of Births, with the actual Mortality of Males and Females, and the Proportion of Deaths to Population, in the under-mentioned Boroughs, during the Month of March, 1894.

• This portion of the suburbs does not lie within borough boundaries, and particulars respecting it have not been obtained for the statistics.
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