Newman. — Is New Zealand a Healthy Country J 501 



England. The srnallness of our general death-rate is, therefore, utterly 

 inconclusive as a test of our real vitality, and it. becomes necessary to 

 ascertain the death-rate, not merely en bloc, but at all the separate ages of 

 life. This has been done in the accompanying tables. 



" So far as the present writer is aware, only one such comparison has ever 

 been made before for this colony. It is contained in an article ' On the Addi- 

 tional Premium required for Eesidence in Foreign Climates,' by Mr. James 

 Meikle, the eminent Scotch actuary, published in the nineteenth volume of 

 ' The Journal of the Institute of Actuaries.' It may, therefore, be well to quote 

 the words in which Mr. Meikle summarized the results he arrived at. ' From 

 the Census Enumeration,' he says,* ' which gives the number of lives in exist- 

 ence in March, 1874, and from the number of deaths in the year 1873, 1 am 

 enabled to show the rate of mortality during each quinquennium of life, 

 and thus to ehminate the effect of immigration, and the consequent irregular 

 distribution of the lives according to age, as compared with the population 

 of this country. The result compares favourably with any other table. \ It is 

 very much lighter than either the H m | or the Carlisle §. I have not made 

 any adjustment of the figures in respect of the progressive increase of the 

 population, or for the deaths being those for the year anterior to the census 

 * * * The results show an exceedingly light rate of mortality .\ "When 

 measured by the annual premium for a life assurance, I should imagine that 

 the New Zealand rate would require about 1\ or 10 per cent, less premium 

 than the H m rate. Before, however, placing much confidence in the 

 results, they would require to be verified at the next census.' The verifica- 

 tion which Mr. Meikle here speaks of, we have now accomplished, — and 

 more. It will be seen that we have included in our tables the results of 

 the three last census years, namely, — 1871, 1878, and 1881 ; and it is satis- 

 factory to be able to point out that the larger data we have thus collected, 

 fully confirm his conclusion as to the low rate of mortality which prevails 

 in this colony." 



* ' Journal of Institute of Actuaries,' vol. sis., p. 291. 

 t The italics are our own. 



\ A table founded on the experience of twenty British insurance offices, and accepted 

 as the best exponent of the mortality of assured life. 



§ A well-known table, accepted as a fairly good exponent of average mortality. 



