lie 



rate of all the colonies, it would have been interesting to com- 

 pare the mortality at different ages with that of the other colo- 

 nies ; but the practice which prevailed there until very 

 lately of adding the still-births to the births and deaths, 

 would have vitiated any comparison. The ratio of deaths of 

 infants under 1 year to births in 1873 is stated to have been 

 lO'Sl per cent. The per centage of deaths for that year was : 



Under 1 year 33-31 



1-2 8-07 



0-5 48-42 



5-10 4-69 



0-10 5311 



All other ages 46-89 



It will be observed that the proportions for children are very 

 much higher than in Tasmania. The Registrar-General 

 says: "Of the total deaths in 1873, 48-42 per cent, were of 

 children under 5 years of age. This rate at first appears ex- 

 ceedingly high when compared with the English rate, which 

 was, in 1871, 41*1 per cent, of the deaths ; but in making the 

 comparison it must not be overlooked that there is in England 

 a very much larger proportion of the population over 55 years 

 of age than there is in New Zealand, and that the deaths of 

 persons above that age were, in England, in 1870, 27-8 per 

 cent, of the total deaths ; whereas in New Zealand such 

 deaths only comprised 11-41 per cent, of the whole number ; " 

 and he goes on to show that if the deaths of persons over 55 

 years had been in the same proportion as in England, namely, 

 27"3 per cent., the deaths of children under 5 would have 

 been at the rate of 39-74 per cent, onlyj, This quotation 

 suggests the question, whether the smaller proportion of 

 children's deaths in Tasmania may not be caused by a defi- 

 ciency in the number of children living in proportion to 

 persons of other ages, as compared with other countries ; and 

 this supposition seems to gain probability from the fact that 

 in Tasmania the birth-rate is lower than in any of the Colonies, 

 in England, or Scotland, the average rate (1869-73) being — 

 Queensland (1869-72), 42-5 per 1,000 ; New Zealand, 40-67 ;* 

 New South Wales, 39-45 ; South Australia, 37-65 ; Victoria, 

 36-93 ; Tasmania, 29-52 j England, 35-2 ; Scotland, 35-10— the 

 last two rates being for the 10 years, 1860-9. But the figures 

 already given, showing the death-rate in relation to the num- 

 bers living at each age, prove that such a supposition will not 

 account for the lower mortality among children which prevails 

 in this island ; and table L also shows that the proportion 

 of children living in Tasmania does not differ materially from 

 that which is found to exist in the other countries with which 



* Including still-births until 1873, in which year the rate was 38-99. 



