View report page

4
the Appendix, by Table 1. The present Report consists of
Five Sections:—
1. VITAL STATISTICS.
Having furnished in preceding Reports the statistics of
each month in detail, I now submit them in a set of Tables
for the year. Their analysis is briefly this :—that 2004 boys
and 1850 girls were born, whilst 1175 males and 1116 females
died; that the Births amounted to 37.5 to each 1000 living,
and to 1563 beyond the Deaths ; that the mortality was
higher by 148 and 386 than in 1855-56, but lower by 82
than the average of the last 10 years ; that 543 persons succumbed
to Epidemics, 258 to Consumption, 806 to Diseases
of the Brain, Heart, Lungs and Stomach, 116 to those of
Age, and 103 to Violence and other casualties; that 624
deaths occurred under the age of 1, 640 at 1—5, 95 at 5—
10, 70 at 10—20; or 1429 in the 1st, 215 in the 2nd, 278 in
the 3rd, 303 in the 4th, and 66 in the 5th vicenniads of life ;
that the mean lifetime was 37.10, and the mean age at death
21 66 years; or in social position—of the Gentry 35*44, of the
Tradesmen 20.57, and of the Artisans 21.20 years;* and,
that after the age of 20, the life averages were respectively
53 39, 54 27, and 54 31.
Classes. Nos. Years of Life. Mean Age
at Death.
Years. Months. Weeks. Days. Years.
Gentry 102 3615 3 21 35.44
Tradesmen 631 12980 5 7 1 20.57
Artisans, Labourers and Taupers 1558 33037 8 33 4 21.20
Totals 2291 49634 7 1 5 21.66
In respect of this Table and the one at the foot of page 12, Chief Justice M-,
to whom they have been referred, remarks, " The only result to be depended on
as accurate, is that which is given by dividing the whole sum of years of life by
the number of deaths, viz.—21.66. In this operation there is no source of error.
As the other results (those of the Class and Sub-District means) differ one from
the other, it is plain both cannot be right: in fact, both are wrong. This mode
of proceeding, viz.,—the dividing by the number of groups (whether constructed
according to occupations, localities, or any other ground of classification) can never
be depended on as giving a true result; except where the groups are numerically
equal, i. c contain the same number of individuals." Hence, the mean ages of
the three Classes and four Sub-Districts must be regarded merely as approximations.