SOME CENSUS FIGURES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3380, 25 December 1918, Page 23

SOME CENSUS FIGURES.

(Otago Daily Times.)

At the date of "the last census, of the population of five years of age and over 95.06 per cent, could read and write ; .77 per cent, could read. only; and 4.17 per cent, could do neither. In other words, out of 10,000 persons in the dominion over five years of age, 417 could not read. The census figures give Otago a population of 117,317 over five, years of age- Upon that basis Otago might be expected to have nearly 5000 persons from five years upwards unable to read or write. But as the statistician credits it as. being the home of no more than 3636 who come within that blighted category, the educational reputation of the province may still survive. It is worth noting that whereas 44.8 per cent, of the male population of the dominion over five years of age is statistically illiterate, only 3.86 per cent, of the female population is in a similar plight. In weighing the general incidence of illiteracy it has to be borne in mind that by far the greater number of those of five years of age and over who are classified aa unable to read or write come within the age group from five to ten years. This excepted, there remains nothing very alarming in the dimensions of the surplus, which comprises some 5225 males ~and 3466 females, in the number of whom are included 207 boys and 167 girls between ten and. fifteen years of age. In 1874 the percentage of the population of the dominion over five years of age that could read and write was 82.85. In comparison with this, the figures for 1916 show a marked educational improvement. ' While this is no more than would be expected, the fact that oyer the period covered there has been a steady diminution of illiteracy and that the latest figures are the most favourable yet recorded is a satisfactory symptom. Were we not penalised by the assumption that reading begins at five years of age, on a percentage, basis, and statistically considered, we should appear a still more highly enlightened people. Why it is that where so many can read so many do not is another question.

The Government Statistician is remorseless. He searches into all the nooks and crannies of the community's existence. He discusses conjugal conditions as exhaustively as he does infirmities by proportion and birth place. In his tables is a -wealth of information on these subjects. Regarding the conjugal -condition of the community, let it suffice here to note that the percentage of married persons over 21 years of age -was higher in 1916 than at' any previous period recorded, being '64.74, and that the percentage of divorces was also the highest on record, being .22 as compared with .10 in 1901. The records of infirmity in New Zealand cover a melancholy side of the life of the community. The infirm include the blind, the deaf and dumb, the feebleminded, and the insane. These four groups in 1916 comprised 6359 persons as against 5301 in 1911. Of the total the deaf and dumb numbered 206, the blind 566, the feeble-minded 1312, and the insane 4275. In every one of these groups the males were in a majority, the total being 3733 as against 2646 females. Whereas in every 10,000 of the male population 45.5 are classed as insane and 13.8 as feeble-minded, the corresponding proportions for females are 32.2 and 10 respectively. In the overwhelming number of cases the birth-place of those classified as infirm has been New Zealand, but the total number whose birth-place is given as the United Kingdom or Australia is also high, constituting an aggregate of 2671 as against 3269 native-born. Foreign countries have also sent to New Zealand a fair proportion of those who have become victims of the kind of infirmity which is the subject of the statistician's scrutiny. It is of interest to note that Germany has been the birth-place of 52 of these unfortu-

nates, of -whom 48 are included among the insane or the feeble-minded. No other foreign country has made so large and unwelcome a contribution of this kind to the population of the dominion, though Sweden curiously enough- comes next in the list, and Austria-Hungary is also too ■well represented.