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19
The foregoing figure, 17,075 dwellings, on a basis
of 3.61 persons per house, represents a potential population
of 61,640, but as allowance must be made for there
being some 350 voids (i.e., empty houses) at any one
time, we arrive at the net figure of 60,377 as mentioned
above.
VITAL STATISTICS.
Births.
The Birth Rate for 1938 is 13.1 per 1,000 population.
Under the provision of the Public Health Act, 1936,
Section 203, during the year, 834 births were notified
to me, of which 812 were live births and 22 stillbirths;
of these 641 were notified by midwives and 193 by
doctors and parents.
The Registrar General gives the number of registered
births in the area for the calendar year as 782 live
births, which together with 30 stillbirths, gives a total
of 812 births (live and still) for 1938. The apparent
discrepancies between local figures and those furnished
by the Registrar General cannot be reconciled because,
on the one hand, births must be notified within 36
hours of occurrence, whereas, on the other hand, the law
allows a lapse of six weeks before registration need be
effected; a further complication ensues in that adjustments
for inward and outward transfers of births are
made, and thus it is that anomalies continue to exist.
Uniformity is preserved, however, in the calculation of
all vital statistics, as the accepted bases for calculations
are the figures furnished bv the Registrar General.