View report page

15
10 years has been 86, shewing an excess of 12 deaths in
last year.
The number of births registered during the year were
583,—299 of males and 284 of females ; the excess of births
over deaths, therefore, was 154, being 44 less than in the
year preceding.
A correct determination of the death-rate, which, it
need scarcely be observed, is of extreme importance in a
sanitary point of view, can be derived only from the true
number of the population. The latter will be ensured by
the Census of next year: but in this, the ninth year since
the last Census, the absence of any means of accurately
ascertaining the present number of the population, renders
it undesirable to attempt a numerical estimate of the
death-rate; the foregoing figures, however, sufficiently
shew that the mortality of the past year was greatly in
excess of what can be reasonably accounted for by
any accession to the population by natural increase or by
immigration.
In this and the other Metropolitan Suburbs, and in any
locality the inhabitants of which are known to be disproportionately
increasing by immigration, a more frequent Census
of the population is absolutely necessary, for in such localities,
subject to such conditions, an interval of 10 years
between each Census renders calculation of the population,
upon which the calculation of all other vital statistics
necessarily depend, more or less conjectural and untrustworthy.
(See last year's Report, page 14.)
Causes of Death.—The following table contains a summary
of all the causes of death arranged in accordance
with the classification of the Registrar-General, showing
the sex, social position, and age at death at different
periods, and particularizing the several diseases of the
Zymotic class.