Untitled

New Zealand Mail, Issue 878, 28 December 1888, Page 28

From the Registrar-General’s vital statistics for November, 1888, it appears that during the month there were 82 births in Wellington, 78 in Auckland, 40 in Dunedin, and 30 in Christchurch. The deaths were—Wellington, 37 ; Dunedin, 24 ; Auckland, 22; Christchurch, 13. The death rate per 1000 was —131 in Wellington, 0 - 99 in Dunedin, 080 in Christchurch, and 0’62 in Auckland. The principal cause of death in Wellington was from local diseases, 4 being from diseases of the heart, 3 from pneumonia, and 3 from bronchitis. There were 8 deaths from constitutional diseases, including three from tubercular meningitis. During the month there were five deaths from cancer, one in Auckland, two in Wellington, and two in Dunedin. The deaths from zymotic disease in the four cities were nine, of which Wellington contributed three (under five years of age). There were 16 deaths of persons of 65 years and upward : two males of 73 and 74, aud a female of 72, died in Auckland ; three males of 72 '(3), and three females of 75, 67, and 65, at Wellington ; a male of 83 at Christchurch ; a male of 74, and five females of 86, 77, 72, 68, and 65, at Dunedin.

According to the official meteorological report for November, 1888, the mean temperature of the air was several degrees less than the usual average of previous years, the decrease being greatest (s‘) in Canterbury. The rainfall was heaviest in Wellington, where 7'098 inches fell. The lightest was in Dunedin, with 2'214 inches. The average for Wellington is 4T66, and for Dunedin 2*5 32. Rain fell on 22 days in Auckland, 20 in Wellington, 18 in Dunedin, and 14 in Canterbury.

The Soudan news is very satisfactory. Deplorable as has been the slaughter of the unfortunate Arabs, no other course was open to the .English Government than to maintain its ground and repel the attack made on the garrison of Suakim. British prestige imperatively demanded that Osman Digna and his forces should be soundly thrashed, and this seems to have been done most thoroughly by General Grenfell and his men. Happily the British loss is reported as slight. The Soudan trouble is a legacy left by the blundering of the Gladstone Ministry, and if the present Government can bring the war to a successful termination it will be a great feather in their cap as well as an immense blessing to England. These “littlewars” are the curse of a great nation.