BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S. 



Year 1894. 



Per cent, proportion of persons living : 



0-5 years 



5-65 years 



65 years and over 



Per cent. pro2)ortion of deaths : 



0-5 years 



5-65 years 



65 years and ovsr 



Deaths per 1000 persons living at each 

 age group : 



0-5 years 



5-65 years 



65 years and over 



Hobai't 

 City. 



12-83 



82-87 

 4 -.30 



Hob art 



Subui'bs. 



12-92 



78-06 



9-02 



28-87 

 45-95 

 25-18 



11-27 

 25-98 

 62-75 



36-79 I 19-59 



9-07 7-46 



95-70 156-10 



Total Death Rate for all ages without 

 allowing correction for disproportion 

 in age groups .'..... 



f Death Rate for all ages corrected 



for age disproportion 



«j fl ^ Death Rate for ages under 65 



^^ { years corrected for age dis- 



L proportion 



16-36 I 22-44 



17-10 1 16-63 



21-79 9-19 



Both. 



12-85 



81-64 

 5-51 



23-23 

 39-55 

 37-22 



32-38 



8-67 



120-95 



17-91 



17-11 



11-90 



The preceding table affords one of the best illustrations of 

 the misleading effect of taking the Total Death Rate for All 

 Ages as a Comparative Health Standard between places or 

 times when there is any material difference in the proportion 

 of people living at the principal age groups whose normal 

 death-rates differ so w^idely. In "The Tasmanian Official 

 Record, 1892," pp. 208*220 it has been clearly demonstrated 

 " that the ordinary reference of the proportion of total deaths 

 to the number of persons living is not iu itself in any sense a 

 Comparative Health Standard as popularly understood ; and 

 that all comparative methods which ignore proportional age- 

 groups living, and make no allowance for the value of 

 longevity, are utterly misleading in mo>^t cases when un- 

 guardedly used as comparative standards of health." In a 

 communication to the Royal Society of Tasmania in the year 



