IMPORTANCE OF STATISTICAL IDEAS. 



II 1 



has fallen off as compared with what it formerly was. But this ex- 

 planation also fails, as far as the oflBcial figures carry us. The pro- 

 portion of immigration to the total increase of population in each 

 census period since 1820, previous to which I have not been able to 

 obtain figures, has been as follows : 



Proportion of Immigration to Total Increase of Population in the undermen- 

 tioned Periods in the United States. 



Per Cent. 



1860-70 35.0 



1870-80 24.2 



Per Cent. 



1820-30 4.7 



1830-40 14.2 



1840-50 27.9 



1850-60 31.5 



1880-90 42.1 



1890-1900 29.4 



Immigration, according to these figures, has thus in late years 

 played as important a part as it formerly did in the increase of popula- 

 tion in the United States. Possibly the official figures of immigration 

 of late years are a little exaggerated, as the United States Government 

 does not show a balance between immigration and emigration; but 

 whatever corrections may be made on this account, the recent figures of 

 immigration are too large to permit the supposition that the failure 

 of immigrants accounts in the main for the diminished rate of increase 

 of the population generally. The ten years' percentage of increase 

 without immigrants, I may say, varied before 1860 between 24 and 33 

 per cent., and has since fallen to 14 and 15 per cent. Even if the latter 

 figures should be increased a little to allow for the overestimate of 

 immigration, the change would be enormous. 



Passing from the United States, we meet with similar phenomena in 



Australasia. Indeed, what has happened in Australasia of late has been 



attracting a good deal of attention. The following short table, which 



is extracted from the statistics of Mr. Coghlan, the able statistician 



of the Government of New South Wales, gives an idea of what has 



occurred : 



Population of Australasia at different Dates, vnth the Annual Increase 



Per Cent, in each Period. 



Supplementary Table of Rate per Cent, of Increase since 1890. 



Per Cent. Per Cent. 



1891. 

 1892. 

 1893. 

 1894. 

 1895. 



.3.34 

 .2.10 

 .1.96 

 .1.95 

 .1.88 



1896. 

 1897. 

 1898. 

 1899. 



.1.84 

 .1.86 

 .1.40 

 ,1.44 



