Newman. — Is New Zealand a Healthy Country ? 493 



I was not able to observe much of this animal's habits during the few 

 days I spent on the island. I usually saw them lying asleep in groups on 

 the shingle, or in the long tussock near the beach. I sometimes saw them 

 gambolling in the shallow water among the kelp, and occasionally I noticed 

 them fighting in a half-hearted sort of way. The scarred hides and broken 

 tusks of the old males, however, show that they sometimes have savage 

 encounters. In fighting they rear themselves against each other and try 

 to seize their opponent with their large canines. These are the only teeth 

 they could use for such a purpose, as the others barely pierce the gum. 

 They are never to be seen feeding on the island, and duriug the breeding 

 season live on their own fat. Little or nothing in the way of food is ever 

 found in their stomachs, but these and the intestines are infested with 

 parasitic worms. 



The island is never entirely deserted by the sea-elephants, but by far the 

 greatest number are to be found after October, when they come up to calve. 



The period of gestation is said to be eleven months. 



The cows, I was told by the sealers, suckle their young for three weeks, 

 and then wean them by deserting them for a time. Whether this be the 

 case or not I cannot say, but I certainly often saw very young animals lying 

 on the beach apart from the adults. 



The sealers say that a bull is not worth killing for its blubber till it is 

 three years old. 



The tongue of these animals when well cooked is excellent eating. 



No fur seals are found on Macquarie Island, though they are so common 

 on the Auckland group. 



The only other seal is the Stenorhynchus leptonyx, or sea-leopard, the 

 ordinary spotted seal of our coasts. 



It is a great contrast to the sluggish sea-elephant, and is the terror of 

 the penguins. 



Art. LXII. — Is New Zealand a Healthy Country ? — An Enquiry. 



By Alfred K. Newman, M.B., M.B.C.P. 



With Statistics by F. W. Frankland. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 3rd February, 1883.] 



That " National health is national wealth," has become a firmly fixed 



article of belief among all modern thinkers. Much has been written upon 



the resources of New Zealand : authors have described in glowing words 



its boundless mineral wealth, and the luxuriant fertility of its rich soil. A 



few have touched upon the healthiness of the climate, but these latter have 



