8egar. — On New Zealand Health Statistics. 121 



increase in that portion of the population most liable to suffer 

 from its inroads — namely, the aged. But we are not so for- 

 tunate in this case as to find the whole increase thus ex- 

 plained, with a credit balance on the other side. There is 

 undeniably an increase in cancer, as represented by statistics. 

 This is generally, however, not nearly so great as would appear 

 .at first from the simple statements with the quotation of 

 which this section opened. The increase in cancer, as pro- 

 perly represented by statistics, is thus more capable of being 

 explained away by the reasons that have been given from time 

 to time for its apparent increase in New Zealand and else- 

 where. The Registrar-General of England, for instance, ex- 

 pressed the opinion that part of the increase was due to 

 improved diagnosis and more careful statement of cause, in 

 support of which opinion he pointed out the greater propor- 

 tionate apparent increase in the deaths of males from cancer, 

 a fact plainly apparent for the case of New Zealand in 

 Table II. This disproportionate increase for the two sexes 

 he explained as being due to the fact that " the cancerous 

 affections of males are in much larger proportion internal or 

 inaccessible than those of females, and consequently are 

 more difficult of recognition, so that any improvement in 

 medical diagnosis would add more to the male than to the 

 female figures." Whether all or how much of the apparent 

 increase in liability to deaths from cancer can be explained 

 by these suggestions of the Registrar-General of England is 

 a matter, however, on which I cannot venture to express an 

 opinion. 



Phthisis. 



Phthisis, commonly known simply as consumption, has 

 of late excited none of that alarmed interest that has centred 

 round insanity and cancer ; it has supplied no startling 

 figures appearing to indicate irresistible conquest. At the be- 

 ginning of the period we are considering, in the year 1879, 

 the number of deaths from phthisis was 399, or 890 per 

 10,000 of population, while in 1898 the number of deaths was 

 597, but only 8T1 per 10,000 of population. These figures 

 in themselves should not, however, be taken to indicate a 

 real decrease in liability to death from phthisis. As far as 

 these figures go, the relatively smaller number of deaths from 

 phthisis might be due to the section of the population of 

 those ages most liable to death from phthisis forming more 

 recently a smaller proportion of the w T hole population. To 

 draw proper conclusions we must proceed to a more de- 

 tailed analysis. 



Table III. exhibits the result of applying the same method 

 •as that already applied to the other two diseases. 



