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VITAL STATISTICS.
In this section, and in the following section which deals
with infectious diseases, I have endeavoured to give accurate data
extending over a period of years, in most cases to 1876. I have
undertaken this rather formidable task because of the extreme
scarcity of sources of information for the years previous to 1896.
It seemed advisable to place the data on record before the sources
disappeared entirely as a result of the passing of time. For some
of the earlier years—1887 to 1890—it has been necessary to
reconstruct certain data from monthly sources, and for that reason
some of these figures may have to be altered slightly in the future.
As the data are given for quinquennial periods the corresponding
rates should not be materially affected.
It is very essential that the figures given in a report dealing
with a certain administrative area should be identical with the
corresponding figures given by the Registrar-General. This
desideratum is not always easy to fulfil. The Registrar-General
did not publish statistics for administrative areas until the year
1911, so that the data for previous years given in this report are
of local origin. It should be said that, apart from inaccuracies
which were common 10 all vital statistics at these early periods,
including those published officially, there is no reason to doubt that
the data given are substantially correct. In the following two
sections—that is, vital statistics and infectious diseases—for the
years 1911 onwards, all the data given for individual years are
those published officially by the Registrar-General, and for that
reason they may be found to differ slightly from the figures given
in previous annual reports. For the main statistics of births and
deaths it has been found convenient to print the data in two
tables, one giving the local figures to 1910, and the other the
official figures after that date.
A further note should be made regarding the sources for
the years previous to 1911. The local figures which were published
annually from the year 1876 to the year 1885 were very meagre,
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