H.—3l

In the case of females of ages 55 to 65, the rates have remained practically stationary. It is in the older age-groups that there is a marked increase in the death-rate, and this increase is more marked in each successive age-gronp. It is significant that coincident with this marked increase there has been a still more marked decrease in the death-rate from senility, a decrease which very much exceeds that of the death-rate from all causes in these age groups. It is obvious that there has been a change-over from senility to other diseases as the certified cause of death, and as the number of diseases from which the aged are likely to die is somewhat limited, causes of death such as heart-disease, cancer, cerebral haemorrhage, and apoplexy, &c., share the results of more accurate certification. Table D shows the marked decline in the death-rate from senility since the beginning of the century.

Table C.—Diseases of the Heart: Average Yearly Number of Deaths per 10,000 of Population by Sex and in Each Age-group.

Table D. —Senility: Average Yearly Number of Deaths per 10,000 of Population by Sex and in each Age-group.

Cancer. —Cancer stands second only to heart-disease as a cause of death, and, as in the case of the latter, the crude death-rate is increasing. Great attention has been focused on it for many years, not only because of its apparent increase, but also because of the amount of suffering it entails. The rates given in Table E show no definite alteration in incidence below the age of sixty-five, but an increasing incidence above that age, the increase becoming more marked as age advances. The remarks made under heart-disease regarding the decline in senility as a cause of death may have some application here, and the decrease in the certification of deaths from other diseases, such as diarrhoea and enteritis in the aged, may also be a factor in the increase in the cancer total. In his statistical study of cancer in New Zealand published in the Official Year-Book, 1926, the present Government Statistician (J. W. Butcher) states —" New Zealand has been noticeably successful in reducing her rate of infantile mortality, and a certain measure of success has attended the efforts made in recent years to cope with tuberculosis. The judicious handling of infectious and epidemic diseases, and the legislative safeguards against unnecessary occupational risks, have further increased every person's prospect of reaching middle life. But by an unalterable law of nature a man must die in due course, and if he survives the years of childhood and reaches middle life without having fallen a victim to accident, epidemic disease, tuberculosis, or some other cause, he finds his selection of diseases in his older age considerably limited, being largely confined to heart-disease in some form or other, arterial degeneration, apoplexy, cancer, and old age."

14

Males. Females. Aee. I 1899- 1904- 1909- 1914- 1919- | 1924- 1929- 1899- 1904- 1909- 1914- I 1919- 1924- j 19291903. 1908. 1913. 1918. 1923. ! 1928. 1933. 1903. 1908. 1913. 1918. j 1923. 1928. ! 1933. 0-1 7-9 12-7 11-3 2-0 0-8 0-8 0-2 3-9 9-8 7-3 1-0 1-3 0-6 0-2 1_5 0-8 0-4 0-8 0-6 0-5 0-4 0-3 1-0 0-4 1-4 0-7 0-5 0-5 0-2 5_10 .. 0-7 0-7 1-5 0-8 1-4 0-6 0-5 1-3 1-0 1-4 0-9 1-2 0-6 0-5 10-15 0-6 0-9 1-3 1-1 1-2 0 9 0-6 1-8 1-5 1 0 1-1 1-0 0-9 0-5 15_20 1-3 1-1 1-9 1-4 1 1 1-1 0-7 2-1 1-8 1-6 1-1 1-4 0-9 0-8 20-25 J ■ 8 1-8 1-7 2-4 1-3 1 1 0-9 1-2 1-8 2-4 1-6 f-2 1-6 1-3 25-30 2-3 1-8 2-1 1-7 1-7 1-4 1-4 2-3 2-0 2-6 2-0 2-4 1-7 1-3 30-35 2-7 2-4 2-2 2-3 3-1 2-8 1-9 3-2 3-2 3-7 1-8 2-6 2-5 2-2 35_40 4-6 4-5 4-7 5-7 4-6 3-6 3-4 4-9 5-0 5-1 4-6 5-2 3-2 3-3 40-45 7-2 7-7 7-2 6-0 6-8 5-0 6-2 7-8 7-5 6-1 6-7 6-2 4-8 4-2 45-50 11-4 13-1 11-6 11-3 11 ■ 8 10-8 12-1 12-6 12-7 10-9 10-0 11-8 9-5 8-8 50-55 21-3 18-0 21-0 19-2 20-5 20-9 21-4 24-7 17-1 19-8 16-9 16-3 15-8 14-2 55-60 36-3 37-8 32-6 35-7 33-6 36-6 37-5 29-9 27-2 30-6 32-9 30-4 25-7 29-4 60-65 51-4 60-6 51-3 54-5 63-7 60-6 70-9 65-4 45-8 46-0 48-3 53-7 49-5 49-8 65-70 94-3 93-7 108-5 98-9 113-1 1)4-9 122-1 83-6 71-1 83-4 78-6 90-2 90-0 95-6 70-75 143-6 152-5 156-5 160-1 178-8 170-4 202-4 112-5 118-7 134-7 125-2 154-0 161-6 171-6 75-80 205-7 210-9 255-6 225-6 267-6 285-6 353-4 148-9 170-2 205-5 201-8 238-0 254-6 328-7 80 and over 223-2 255-2 315-2 295-1 408-2 427-5 702-2 157-7 161-7 216-9 246-9 298-2 409-3 642-9 All ages .. 12-2 13-2 14-6 15-1 16-7 16-8 21-7 8-8 9-1 10-8 10-8 12-9 13-8 17-8 ' ' I "

Males. Females. 1899- 1904- ! 1909- 1914- 1919- 1924- 1929- 1899- 1904- 1909- 1914- : 1919- 1924- 19291903. 1908. ! 1913. 1918. : 1923. i 1928. 1933. 1903. 1908. 1913. 1918. ! 1923. 1928. 1933. 1 I I ; I I ' I . I 'I . 1. - 65-70 23-4 16-7 21-0 29-8 24-3 17-2 7-2 15-9 17-1 16-3 19-0 16-0 10-2 : 5-5 70-75 100-6 87-2 75-5 100-7 73-9 49-1 29-7 73-5 85-4 69-0 78-8 55-4 41-4 : 18-6 75_ 80 233-7 235-8 194-6 215-7 192-8 118-9 69-2 243-0 229-3 184-0 205-3 173-2 122-3 , 60-4 80 and over .. 846-3 852-6 756-1 752-0 684-7 |547-8 263-1 986-6 908-2 778-4 757-9 674-8 488-4 242-9 All ages .. 6-2 7-0 7-5 10-0 8-5 j 6-1 3-2 5-2 5-9 5-9 7-1 6-7 5-1 2-7