MANY DEATHS AMONG AGED

Otago Witness, Issue 3619, 24 July 1923, Page 28

MANY DEATHS AMONG AGED

THE TOLL OF A WEEK. The conditions that have brought about an outbreak of influenza with mild results among the younger members of the community have had a more serious effect on the aged and many of their number have succumbed. In one home for old men and women in the city 11 deaths are said to have occurred within the past fortnight, and reference to the columns of the press shows that the work of the Grim Reaper has been general in town and country. For the week ended the 15th 40 deaths of people over 60 years of age were advertised in the Otago Daily Times. Included among them were a number of examples of longevity that go to show that Otago’s climate, rigorous as it is, does not undermine the vigour of the healthy, and they even more surely are indicative of the robustness that characterised many of our early settlers. The combined ages of the 40 residents referred to total no less than 3037 years —an average of 75.92 years. One of those whose age is included in the total died at 96; two died at 90; three at 85: and there were 14 aged from 80 upwards. In the previous week there were also a number of deaths of people in advanced vents