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23 [1897
A curious fact is, that previous Medical Officers of Health have
assumed that the deaths registered by the Parish Registrars were in
excess of the real number of deaths which should be credited to the
district. And apparently they had reasonable grounds for doing so.
It is very uncertain that they were correct, because since the Registrar
General began to distribute the deaths it has become evident that
those registered by the Parish Registrars are not always in excess of the
distributed deaths, and sometimes the reverse is the case. As a
proof of this, take the figures siuce 1885 to 1896 (inclusive.)
In the six years 1885-90, it is found that on two occasions, namely,
in 1885 and 1890, the distributed deaths exceeded those registered in
the Parish, and that in these six years the total deaths actually
exceeded the latter by 47.
Deaths registered in the Parish Register, 1885-90 33,256
Deaths distributed by Registrar General, 1885-90 33,303
Excess of distributed deaths 47
On examining the next six years the distributed deaths are in each
of five years seen to exceed the deaths entered in the Parish
Registers, while in one year only are they less.