H.—3l

24

B. LOCAL VITAL STATISTICS. (From the Reports of District Health Officers.) Auckland District. In accordance with the decision of the Department, to facilitate comparison with other countries, and that our figures may synchronize with those of the Registrar-General, the vital statistics for the first time cover the period January to December inclusive. They deal only with the population of the City of Auckland and the boroughs of Birkenhead, Devonport, Grey Lynn, Mount Eden, Newmarket, Northcote, and Parnell. The alteration involves the overlapping of the first three months of T9lO, which were included in 1910 report. This fact must be noted when dealing later on with any term of years. Population. The mean population for the year 1910 in the above-mentioned boroughs upon which the statistics are based is,— Auckland City ... ... ... ... ... ... 43,683 Suburban boroughs ... ... ... ... ... ... 36,586 80,269 In the population of Greater Auckland the Registrar-General includes the road districts Arch Hill, Eden Terrace, Epsom, Mount Albert, Mount Roskill, One Tree Hill, Point Chevalier, Remuera, and Parnell Riding (including the Domain and Hospital reserves), 19,756. Onehunga Borough adds a further 3,693 (1906 census), making a total of 103,718. The following statistics, however, deal with the population of the boroughs, 80,269 : — Per 1,000 p °^ n 1910—Auckland ... ... ... ... ... ... 27*75 Auckland and suburban boroughs ... ... ... 26*01 The average birth-rates for the previous ten vears are : — Auckland City ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 30*28 Auckland and suburban boroughs... ... ... ... ... 28*28 Per 1,000 Death-rate. v °l^T Population. 1910—Auckland City ... ... ... ... ... ... 11*88 Auckland and suburban boroughs .. ... ... ... 9*73 The average death-rates for the previous ten years (1900-9) are — Auckland City .. ... ... ... ... ... ... 12*97 Auckland and suburban boroughs ... ... ... ... 11*28 There is, therefore, a decrease from the average, although slightly above the rate for previous vear, when it was 9'30 for city and suburbs. Natural Increase of Population. v, t „-i Increase per Births. Deaths. ™™rai i 0 00 of Mean Increase. V, , .. Population. Auckland and suburban boroughs ... 2,088 781 1,307 16*28 The births show a continued fall, and the deaths, both in the city and suburbs, are in excess of the previous year, resulting in a considerable reduction in the natural increase of population as compared with the previous year, when it was 18'28. The birth-rate is the lowest recorded for a number of years, being 2 - 25 less in the city than in 1901. Infant Mortality. In Auckland and suburban boroughs,— Deaths of infants under 1 year were... ... ... ... ... 165 Deaths of infants between 1 and 5 years ... ... ... 49 214 Auokland Auckland and c; . Suburban Deaths of children under 1 vear per 100 births.- »" Boroughs. For 1910 957 7*90 Mean for previous five years ... ... ... 9'34 8*37 Mean for previous ten years ... ... ... 10*71 9*77 Mean for the whole Dominion for ten years—7*l9. This table exhibits a satisfactory decrease in infant mortality over the decennary period, though necessarily not so marked as the improvement is_ maintained. Last year infant mortality was considerably greater than in the previous year, and the improvement over the ten years iB only maintained by the lower record of the years immediately preceding.