H.-31A.

Table III.—Notifications of and Deaths from Tuberculosis of the Respiratory System, 1918-27.

Table IV—Deaths from other Tubercular Diseases, 1872-1927.

11l commenting on these figures the Government Statistician writes : "As regards pulmonary tuberculosis, the figures prior to 1908 are not altogether comparable with those for the years 1908 to 1927, as they did not apparently include deaths certified as being due to ' tuberculosis ' (not further defined), which have since been treated as due to pulmonary tuberculosis. From 1872 to 1884, inclusive, the general heading ' Tuberculosis ' included the subheading ' Hydrocephalus,' which from 1.885 to 1907 was altered to ' Tubercular meningitis, acute hydrocephalus,' becoming in 1908 ' Tubercular meningitis.' To what extent the headings 'Hydrocephalus' and 'Acute hydrocephalus ' included non-tubercular hydrocephalus it is impossible to say, though deaths from ' tubercular meningitis, acute hydrocephalus ' in 1907 numbered 115, as against only 83 from ' tubercular meningitis,' in 1908. On the other hand, it is possible that up to and including 1884, a number of deaths from tubercular meningitis were included in the subheadings ' Cephalitis ' and ' Brain-disease,' &c. of the heading ' Diseases of the nervous system.' " . The decline in the death-rate is shown more clearly in Graph A.

5

I I ' | Rates per 10,000 of Mean iyr „ ! 1 Population. Deaths Year. Population Notifications. Deaths. per 100 Notifications. Notifications. Deaths. 1918 .. .. 1,103,022 1,072 638 9-72 5-78 59-5 1919 .. .. 1,142,889 984 585 8-61 5-12 59-5 1920 .. .. 1,192,620 1,305 671 10-94 5-63 51-4 1921 .. .. 1,223,901 1,207 609 9-86 4-98 50-5 1922 .. .. 1,251,895 1,129 594 9-02 4-74 52-6 1923 .. .. 1,274,551 1,002 619 7-86 4-86 61-8 1924 .. .. 1,298,635 1,072 573 8-25 4-41 53-5 1925 .. .. 1,329,759 1,247 560 9-38 4-21 44-9 1926 .. .. 1,352,927 1,318 592 9-74 4-38 44-9 1927 .. .. 1,374,439 1,343 533 9-77 3-88 39-7 Note.—Population and death figures are exclusive of Maoris. Notifications probably include a small number of Maori cases. Table IV gives the death-rate from non-pulmonary tuberculosis over the same period, and this also shows a steady decline from 2'96 per 10,000 in 1872 to 0'98 in 1927.

Yflr ' Number of per 10,000 ! Number of I Rate per 10,000 Year - Deaths. p M ff. Year " Deaths. ! D Population. j j Population. 1872 .. .. 81 2-96 1900 .. .. 175 2-30 1873 .. .. 96 3-34 1901 .. .. 179 2-30 1874 .. .. 121 3-79 1902 .. .. 185 2-32 1875 .. .. 222 6-19 ! 1903 .. .. 199 243 1876 .. .. 181 4-67 1904 .. .. 201 2-38 1877 .. .. 186 4-61 [ 1905 .. .. 182 2-09 1878 .. .. 187 4-45 | 1906 .. .. 164 1-83 1879 .. .. 188 4-20 1 1907 .. .. 244 2-65 1880 .. .. 198 4-17 1908 .. .. 169 1-79 1881 .. .. 212 4-30 1909 .. .. 169 1-74 1882 .. .. 157 3-08 1910 .. .. 157 1-58 1883 .. .. 169 3-19 ■ 1911 .. .. 175 1-73 1884 .. .. 188 3-40 1912 .. .. 163 1-57 1885 .. .. 184 3-23 1913 .. .. 172 1-61 1886 .. .. 205 3-52 1914 .. .. 164 1-50 1887 .. .. 200 3-35 1915 .. .. 147 1-34 1888 .. .. 171 2-82 1916 .. .. 177 1-61 1889 .. .. 150 2-45 1917 .. .. 171 1-56 1890 .. .. 130 2-09 1918 .. .. 194 1-76 1891 .. .. 168 2-67 1919 .. .. 177 1-55 1892 .. .. 176 2-74 1920 .. .. 180 1-51 1893 .. .. 184 2-78 1921 .. .. 184 1-50 1894 .. .. 176 2-59 ! 1922 .. .. 209 1-67 1895 .. .. 208 3-00 1923 .. .. 173 1-36 1896 .. .. 157 2-22 1924 .. .. 163 1-26 1897 .. .. 167 2-31 1925 .. .. 124 0-93 1898 .. .. 172 2-34 1926 .. .. 135 1-00 1899 .. .. 202 2-69 1927 .. .. 135 0-98