LIFE AND DEATH.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 322, 8 October 1908, Page 7

LIFE AND DEATH.

PUBLIC HEALTH REPORT. INTERESTING FACTS AND FICURE& BIRTH AND MARRIAGE STATISTICS. The following items are excerpted from the Public Health report which was presented to Parliament yesterday:— Influenza claimed 223 victims in 1907, aa against 132 in 1906. • - • . Deaths from old age in. 1907 numbered 671, again 588 in 1906. " Work will do more for tho Maori than all tho medicines and boautiful theories that we know. Get tho Maori to work; all the other reforms will follow." It cannot bo gainsaid that many who liva to a good age, and die of 6omo other disease, show post-mortem evidences of having suffered from tuberculosis. The proportion of bridegrooms under 21 ia much greater in England than in New Zealand, and tho proportion of brides under 21 somewhat higher. • x Tho maternity hospitals are not intended in any sense to be charitable institutions, and it is expected that they will be self-supporting. At Wellington during May and June some twenty rats from the neighbourhood of tha wharf were examined without any disease being discovered. ■ Tho general death-rate increased last year from 9.31 in 1906 to 10.95. This, as the Registrar-General points out, is the highest rate since 1883. The rate, however, is still much beloiv that of the older countries. Only eight children out of every hundred born in 1907 would appear to have been successfully vaccinated, as against 7 out of overy 100 in 1906. Soon New Zealand will have tho unenviable distinction of being the; least protected of all countries. The births of 1157 children in New Zealand in 1907 were illegitimate: thus 46- in every 1000 children born wore, born out of wedlockj against 47 in 1906. The rates of illegitimacy in Australasia show that that for 1907 in New' Zealand was less i than in any of the Australian States, except South Aus-tralia-and Western Australia. During the year the number of Native farmers in tho Mastertou district has greatly •increased, the total at present being twentyfour. The greater part of tho land, comprising 108,261 acres, however, is leased. Acres farmed, 32,807: sheep, 21,270; horses, 174; cattle, 617. The" deaths in 1907 numbered 10,066, being equivalent to a rate of 10.95 in every 1000 persons living, as against 9.31 in 1906. This is the highest rate experienced since 'tho year 1883, when tho deaths were 11.45 per 1000 of the population.

Tho illiteracy of the people, as measured by tho proportion of married persons who affix marks instead of signatures to the mar- ■ riago register, has greatly decreased of htey. having fallen since 1881 from 32.04 per 1000 among men to 1.46 per 1000, and from 57.98 per 1000 to 3.05 per 1000 among women. - Of the persons married in 1907, 131 bridegroom's arid 1296 brides 'were under 21 years of age—one of the bridegrooms was between 16. and 17, and ten between 18 and 19. Of the brides, ten wero between 15 and 16, and thirty-four between 16, and 17 years of age. The proportion of men married is greatest at the ages of 25 to 30, and of women at •from-21» t0,25 years. Under the class "dietetic diseases" are included 36 deaths from intemperance. But these .'cannot be said to, represent the full extent of the mortality really caused by the abuse of alcoholic liquors. Many deaths of-'intemperate persons are attributed to disease'• of • tho. liver,. kidneys, etc., in tho medical certificates. Though'phthisis'is a terrible scourge to the Maori, it is not so prevalent as many : think. The high : percehtago of respiratory affections, however, must give us cause for alarm, since with the lowering of tho vitality of the respiratory tract the way for phthisis is made'easier. Of the persons dying from phthisis in New "Zealand during 1907, moro than one-half wero born in the Dominion. Tho numbers are: Total deaths'from phthisis' 612-; 372 of them having been New < Zealand-born. Tho proportion is 61-per cent.-' Once again the Registrar-General records "an increase in "the"' death-rate from cancer. 'In 1906, with a mean population of 895,594, there were 623 deaths; in 1907, with a mean population of 919,105, there were 674 au inorease of 0.37 por 10,000 persons living. : Tho proportion of illiterates .in 1901 and 1907 was greatest among those married before registrars. Previously tho proportion -was largest among Roman Catholics; but since 1881 it has, as shown by tho table, most remarkably decreased. . Of the marriages in the year 1907, 24.38 por cent, were solemnised by ministers of the Church of England, 26.23 per cent, by minis- ■ tefs of the Presbyterian Churches, 14.9a-per cent. ,by ministers of. the Methodist Churche8 r 11.22 per cent, by ministers - of-, the Roman ''Catholic Church,' 7.99 per cent, by ministers of other denominations, and 15.23 per cent, by registrars. The death-rates from phthisis increased slightly last year—from 6.21 to 6.66 per 10,000. This increase is, Dr. Mason thinks, of little significance. Provision is gradually being made for sufferers from this disease, and when we can say to every' indigent sufferer, "Here is a shelter, come m, as much will have been effected in this direction as can be expected of a State.

Marriages for 1907 show an increaso on the number for the previous year.. The number was 8192, or GOO more than in 1906. Ilia marriage-rate rose from 8.48 per 1000 per-, sons living in 1906 to 8.91 in 190/, the rate for tlio latter year being tho highest obtained since 1875, when it stood at 8.94 per 100 C persons, Tlio improvement shown (hiring recent years sets New Zealand in a good posi< tion relatively to the Australian States. Tho figures show that during each year sinco 1886 there has been a preponderance p! births of malo children. It would appear, however, that this excess of male births is not sufficient to compensate for the heavier mortality which occurs among this sex. 01 the total population in 1871 there were <0.52 females to every 100 males, but in 1907 the proportion of tho. females to 100 males had risen to 85.67. ■