Nation Making, a story of New Zealand
Chapter XXXVIII. — The Conditions of Life
Chapter XXXVIII.
The Conditions of Life.
New Zealand compared with Other Countries as to Health and Disease.—Conditions for Nation Making.—Birth rate.—Children per Marriage.—Excess of Births over Deaths.—Mean annual Increase.—Illegitimacy.—Concubinage.—Death of Infants.—Mean Death rate.—Deaths from Zymoti Parasitic and Dietic Diseases.—Deaths from Hydatids.—Deaths from Atrophy and Debility.—Deaths from Pulmonary Consumption.—Deaf and Dumb persons.—Blindness.—Lunacy.—Idiocy.—New Zealand exceeds All Countries in Vitality and Health.
I propose in this Chapter to exhibit the Conditions of Life, as to health and disease, in New Zealand as compared with various Colonies and Countries, for the reason, that in Nation Making—whilst the fertility and position of any country with the ambition to become a Nation, are of very great importance—the conditions existing in it, for the health and life of its inhabitants, are of very much more importance, if a Nation is to take high rank in the future.
For the information supplied in the following Tables of Vital Statistics, I am indebted to the valu-page 340able Year Book compiled by Mr. Hayter, the eminent Government Statist for the Colony of Victoria.
Average of 23 years, 1865–1887.
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Average of 4 years, 1882–1886. | New Zealand has a higher Birth rate than any European Nation. |
Average of 7 years, 1880–1886. | |
France | 2·98 |
Sweden | 3·55 |
England | 4·16 |
Belgium | 4·21 |
Tasmania | 4·29 |
Victoria | 4·34 |
Queensland | 4·62 |
Ireland | 5·46 |
New Zealand | 5·48 |
Mr. Hayter says,
'Of the Australasian Colonies New Zealand is the one in which the Births have always exceeded the Deaths by the highest proportion.
'In not one of 15 European countries did the Births double the Deaths in any year of the period 1881–1885. On the other hand, in the Australasian Colonies it is the exception for the Births not to double the Deaths; and in one of them—New Zealand—it is the exception for the Births not to be three times as page 341numerous as the Deaths. This is no doubt promoted by the salubrity of the New Zealand climate, but still more so by the circumstance of the population being spread over the country, or dispersed through a number of small towns, instead of being, to a great extent, crowded into a few large cities, as is too much the case in the other Colonies.'
In Australasia for 10 years, 1877–1886. | |
New Zealand | 240 |
South Australia | 163 |
New South Wales | 145 |
Western Australia | 114 |
Victoria | 112 |
Queensland | 112 |
Tasmania | 111 |
In European Countries, 1882–86. | |
Norway | 84 |
England and Wales | 71 |
Scotland | 70 |
Belgium | 47 |
Germany | 43 |
Italy | 37 |
Switzerland | 35 |
Ireland | 31 |
Austria | 28 |
France | 10 |
Per cent. | |
New Zealand | 2·78 |
South Australia | 2·39 |
New South Wales | 2·28 |
Queensland | 1·90 |
Western Australia | 1·82 |
Tasmania | 1·72 |
Victoria | 1·66 |
England and Wales | 1·37 |
Russia | 1·36 |
Scotland | 1·33 |
Per cent. | |
Denmark | 1·16 |
Holland | 1·15 |
Belgium | ·91 |
Ireland | ·86 |
Italy | ·77 |
Austria | ·74 |
United States | ·70 |
Spain | ·48 |
France | ·16 |
In the per centage of increase of population by page 342excess of Births over Deaths, New Zealand stands at the head of all other Countries.
Austria | 12·9 |
Scotland | 8·5 |
France | 7·38 |
England | 4·9 |
New South Wales | 4·27 |
Victoria | 4·17 |
Tasmania | 4·15 |
Queensland | 3·69 |
Ireland | 2·4 |
New Zealand | 2·38 |
In Queensland | 1 | single woman in | 13 | was living immorally |
In New South Wales | 1 | single woman in | 19 | was living immorally |
In Victoria | 1 | single woman in | 22 | was living immorally |
In New Zealand | 1 | single woman in | 23 | was living immorally |
These Tables show that, in Purity of Domestic Life—one of the surest foundations of the Home, the Family, and the Nation—New Zealand holds the first position.
Ireland | 9·2 |
New Zealand | 9·65 |
Tasmania | 10·48 |
Scotland | 11·8 |
New South Wales | 11·45 |
Victoria | 12·35 |
Queensland | 13·15 |
South Australia | 14·41 |
England and Wales | 14·4 |
France (legitimate) | 14·7 |
France (illegitimate) | 29·8 |
In Australasian Colonies, | 1865–1887. |
Queensland | 17·92 |
Western Australia | 16·42 |
New South Wales | 15·62 |
Victoria | 15·57 |
Tasmania | 15·33 |
South Australia | 14·84 |
New Zealand | 11·90 |
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In British Possessions. | |
Mauritius | 32·5 |
Malta | 27·0 |
West Indies | 24·2 |
Ceylon | 21·6 |
St. Helena | 13·2 |
Nova Scotia | 12·1 |
In European Countries, | 1882–1886. |
Hungary | 33·4 |
Austria | 30·0 |
Italy | 27·3 |
Germany | 25·9 |
Spain | 25·8 |
France | 22·2 |
Switzerland | 20·7 |
England and Wales | 19·4 |
Scotland | 19·3 |
Denmark | 18·5 |
Ireland | 18·1 |
Sweden | 17·5 |
Norway | 16·9 |
The Death rate being lower in New Zealand than in any other Country.
From Zymotic, Parasitic, and Dietic Diseases, | 873–1882. |
Queensland | 52·7 |
Victoria | 41·7 |
South Australia | 38·6 |
New South Wales | 36·4 |
Tasmania | 31·2 |
New Zealand | 30·6 |
From Atrophy and Debility, | 1882–1886. |
Queensland | 12·45 |
South Australia | 11·12 |
New South Wales | 10·42 |
Victoria | 9·80 |
Tasmania | 9·39 |
New Zealand | 5·57 |
From Hydatids, | 1882–1886. |
Victoria | 5·79 |
South Australia | 3·54 |
Tasmania | 2·83 |
New South Wales | 2·05 |
Queensland | 1·29 |
New Zealand | 0·66 |
From Pulmonary Consumption, | 1873–1886. |
Queensland | 14·31 |
Victoria | 13·49 |
New South Wales | 10·86 |
Tasmania | 10·46 |
South Australia | 10·07 |
New Zealand | 8·64 |
Austria | 38·39 |
Massachusetts | 34·25 |
Prussia | 30·88 |
Belgium | 30·48 |
Scotland | 25·92 |
Italy | 25·54 |
Ireland | 22·43 |
Switzerland | 21·79 |
United Kingdom | 21·09 |
Spain | 12·32 |
The Death rate in these Diseases being lower in New Zealand than in any other Country where returns are given.
Deaf and Dumb
per 10,000 living persons. |
Blindness
per 10,000 living persons. |
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Switzerland | 24·52 | Portugal | 21·90 |
Austria | 13·07 | Tasmania | 16·00 |
Sweden | 10·23 | Spain | 14·79 |
Germany | 9·31 | Western Australia | 13·79 |
Canada | 8·05 | Norway | 13·57 |
Portugal | 7·47 | United Kingdom | 9·85 |
United States | 6·75 | United States | 9·75 |
France | 6·26 | Austria | 9·07 |
United Kingdom | 5·74 | Victoria | 8·60 |
Tasmania | 5·44 | France | 8·37 |
Italy | 5·37 | Germany | 7·93 |
Spain | 4·50 | Italy | 7·63 |
Victoria | 3·33 | Switzerland | 7·61 |
South Australia | 2·90 | South Australia | 7·06 |
Western Australia | 2·36 | Canada | 6·19 |
New Zealand | 2·33 | Holland | 4·45 |
New Zealand | 2·82 | ||
Showing that for 1 person Deaf and Dumb in New Zealand there are 10 persons in Switzerland. | Showing that for 1 Blind person in New Zealand there are nearly 8 blind persons in Portugal. |
Victoria | 1 in 304 | persons |
Tasmania | 1 in 334 | persons |
South Australia | 1 in 436 | persons |
New Zealand | 1 in 437 | persons |
United States | 15·33 | persons |
Portugal | 15·00 | persons |
Austria | 14·64 | persons |
Germany | 13·65 | persons |
page 345 | ||
United Kingdom | 12·92 | persons |
Hungary | 11·86 | persons |
France | 11·40 | persons |
Denmark | 8·31 | persons |
Italy | 6·91 | persons |
Tasmania | 6·57 | persons |
Spain | 5·47 | persons |
Sweden | 3·92 | persons |
Victoria | 1·87 | persons |
New Zealand | 1·18 | persons |
Showing that for 1 Idiot in New Zealand, there are 13 Idiots in the United States.
These figures tell their own story. They show that with one trifling exception, New Zealand has a greater Birth rate; a greater number of Children per Marriage; a greater percentage of Births over Deaths; a greater percentage of Increase of Population; a smaller percentage of Illegitimacy; a smaller percentage of Concubinage; a smaller death rate of Infants under one year; a lower general death rate; a lower death rate in Zymotic, Parasitic, Dietic, Hydatids, Atrophy, Debility and Pulmonary Consumptive Diseases; a smaller percentage of Deaf and Dumb persons; a smaller percentage of Blind persons; a smaller percentage of Lunacy and Idiocy—so far as returns are given—than any Country in the world.
They proclaim New Zealand to be, in every respect, at the head of all other Countries for Vitality and Health; as a land offering the most favourable Conditions of Life; and they present a striking confirmation of the remarkable salubrity of the climate of the Colony, as displayed in the splendid physique of the Maories, the aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand.