SIGNIFICANT STATISTICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 54, 14 March 1900, Page 2

SIGNIFICANT STATISTICS.

, Some interesting figures regarding the ■ population and vital statistics of the co- ; lony are contained in a leaflet issued by ! the .Registrar-General's department, i The population of the colony in 1899 i (exclusive of Maoris) was 756,905, as | compared with 743,463 in 1898—an in--1 crease of 13,042. The arrivals last year totalled 18,506, against 18,855 in 1898, . -aid the departures were 16,619, as compared with 16,159 in the previous year. The births totalled 18,835, being a decrease of 120 as compired with 1898, and the deaths numbered 7680, against! 7244 in the previous year. There whs j an increase of 370 in the number of marriages (5461 in 1899 and 5091 in 1898). la 1899 the birth-rate was 25.12 per 1000, as against 25.74 in the previous year, and the death-rate 10.24 per 1000, as against 9.84 in 1898, the marriage rate being 7.28 per 1000. as against 6.91 in 1898. A further decline in the birth-rate of New Zealand, says the Deputy-Registrar-General, will be observed in the above figures, the rate per 1000 of population being 25.12 in 1899 against 25.74 in the previous year; and not only is the rato for 1899 lower, but an actual decrease in the( number of births registered during the .year has taken place. Marriages have nevertheless increased considerably, the rate for 1899 being the mghest recorded since 1879. The birth-rate has fallen from 30.07 per 1000 of population of all asjes in 1899 to 25.12 in the year 1899, 'in 1898 the New Zealand rale (25.74) was, with the exception of South Australia (24.98) and Victoria (25.72), lower than in any of the Australasian ■olomes, Tasmania (26 24) and New •South Wales (27.14) being, however, | <mly slightly higher. It IMS fc be remembered also that the decline in the birth-rate between 1889 and 1898 in J-W Zealand is less in degree than in 'any other colony of the Australasianl, group, It must not bs forgotton, ho?

j.Jds, that the death-rate ill New Zeaaud is by far the lowest of the rates obtaining in the Australasian colonies, I the figure* for 1898 being:—New Zeatt 9 ' 84 per 100 ° ' Queensland, New South Wales, 12.48 ; Victoria, 15.94; South Australia, 13.06; Western Australia, 16.05 ; Tasmania, 10,52.