Seventy-Fourth Annual Report of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages inEngland and WalesReview by: R. D.Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol. 77, No. 1 (Dec., 1913), pp. 87-89Published by: Wiley for the Royal Statistical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2339762 .

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1913.] 87

REVIEWS OF STATISTICAL AND ECONOMIC BOOKS

CONTENTS:

PAGE

1.-England and Wales. Seventy- fourth Annual Report of Regis- trar-General ......................... 87

2.-Ballod (Professor Carl). Grundriss der Statistik ............ 89

3.-Verrijn Stuart (Dr. C. A.). Inleiding tot de Beoefening der Statistiek ................................. 90

4.-Kennedy (W.). English Tax- ation ............ ............. 91

5.-Prothero (B. B.). English Farming ......................... 93

6.-Tollemache (B.). The Occu- pying Ownership of Land ........ 95

7.-Financial Review of Reviews. " Official " Finance .................... 96

PAGE

rKnoop (D.). Outlines of I Railway Economics ....... .... 97

8. ' Pratt (E. A.). The case l against Railway Nationali-

zation ........................ . 97 9.-Kobatsch (Professor 1.). La

Politique Economique Inter- nationale ................. ........ 99

10.- Webb (M. de P.). Advance India! ......... ................ 100

1l.-Chessa (F.). La Trasmis- sione Ereditaria delle Profes- sioni .................... ............ 101

12.-Theilhaber (F. A.). Das Sterile Berlin ......................... 103

13.- Other Yew Publications .... 104

1.-Seventy-fourth Annual Report of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in England and Wales. (1911.) [Cd. 6578.] Fol. London: Wyman and Sons, 1913. Price 55. 8d.

In his Annual Report for 1909 the Registrar-General announced that very considerable changes would be made in his reports be- ginning with that for 1911, the census year, and the results of those changes are contained in the present Report. From a volume of 522 pages, 8vo, the Report has grown to one of 577 pages foolscap. The arrangement of the matter has been completely changed, but the new volume is so great an improvement that we are more than content to accept the inevitable lack of comparability.

The two changes of the most vital importance are the adoption of the International Schedule of Causes of Death and the substi- tution of administrative areas-administrative counties, county boroughs, urban and rural sanitary districts-for registration- counties, districts and sub-districts-changes which very materially affect the continuity of the Reports. Of the two, the latter causes the more violent change. The substitution of the new classification of causes of death will not materially affect the more important diseases, such as the epidemic infectious diseases, the tubercular diseases and the malignant neoplasmata included under the generic title of " cancer." The manner of adjustment of the old system in use in the General Register Office to the International Schedule has been very fully explained in the Manual of the International List of Causes of Death issued by the Registrar-General last year. Table 19 (pp. 35 et seq.) of the present Report includes a tabulation of the deaths in 1911 according to the List of Causes in use prior to 1911, for each sex at all ages, for the whole country, and the figures therein

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88 Retiews of Statistical and Econwonic Books1;.. [Dec.

set out can be compared with the tabulation according to the Inter- national Schedule, which is to be found on pp. 194-223. Table 19, in effect, enables the long series of records-they date back to 1897 in the table-to be continued, and will serve to bridge the gap caused by the changes. Table 20 does the same for the mortality rates, for males and females at all ages.

Two very great advantages can be mentioned as compensations for the hiatus caused by the substitution of the sanitary areas for the registration. The first is that the figures now relate to areas the boundaries and circumstances of which are well-known. Taken in conjunction with the census data it will be possible to get out statistics to which will attach the minimum of uncertainty and indefiniteness. The second advantage is that by means of the system of transference of births and deaths initiated some two years ago, the number of deaths included in the tables have been duly corrected for non-residents and out-lying births and deaths. In this way the errors attaching to rates based on registration numbers, owing to the presence of large institutions in certain areas, are obviated. The only data which have been tabulated in the Report for Regis- tration Areas are those relating to marriage, and it is difficult to understand why that relic of the past has been retained.

The new tables of deaths by causes, in addition to those already referred to, extend to nearly 360 pages of tabulation (by sex and ages for the most part), ranging from the country as a whole, through five main divisions and administrative counties, to county and metro- politan boroughs, urban and rural districts. It would appear to be possible to take out mortality rates for the principal diseases in every sanitary area in the kingdom, distinguishing the sexes in every case, and by age-groups (more or less fine) in all the more important districts. The only areas for which no age distribution is given are the urban districts, other than county boroughs, and the rural. Pages 148 to 179 are devoted to a table showing the estimated population of every sanitary area, the numbers of births (distinguishing legitimate from illegitimate with the number of each sex), and deaths (total number), together with the rates of natality and mortality, the " standardised " death rate, standardising factor, infantile mortality and rate of increment. These figures, with the data just previously mentioned, will enable students to compile very complete tables for each and every sanitary district.

Other changes have been introduced which will increase the value of the Reports without affecting their continuity. The first and probably the useful addition to the Reports is the inclusion of Tables 2, 3 and 4, which give the estimated numbers of males and females in fifteen age-groups in: (a) England and Wales ; (b) London; (c) aggregates of county boroughs; (d) aggregates of urban districts; (e) aggregates of rural districts; (f) the counties in four groups, viz., Northern, Southern, Midland, and Wales and Monmouth; (g) the county

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1913.] Reviews of Statistical and Economic Books. 89

boroughs grouped in the same way; (h) aggregates of the urban and rural areas in each county; and (i) each county borough. The last tabulation is, perhaps, somewhat unfortunate in its limits, as it does not include such districts as the metropolitan boroughs and those somewhat numerous large areas (e.g., Willesden) which are not county boroughs but contain populations much larger than many county boroughs. A selection based on population rather than civic status would have been preferable.

The tabulation of births has been improved by the distribution into legitimate and illegitimate, and males and females for every sanitary area, and the new tables (pp. 296-312) of deaths, dis- tributed according to the class of institution in which they occur, will prove to be of great utility. The deaths due to violence (accident, suicide and murder) in the country as a whole, are classified with great minuteness by cause or method, sex and age. There are also tables giving an account of the secondary causes of death and complications recorded in deaths due to the principal infectious (zymotic) diseases.

In former Reports the term " corrected rate " has been, in accordance with custom, applied to rates obtained by the use of the factor for correction for variations in the sex-age composition of the populations. At the same time the term has been used for the rate obtained from the recorded number of deaths (or births) corrected for non-residents and deaths in out-lying institutions. Dr. Stevenson thinks that the term " standardised rate " should be adopted for the factor-corrected rate, and the term " corrected rate " be limited to the rate deduced from the registered numbers after correction for non-residents, &c. The present use of the term "corrected rate " is associated with some confusion, and the suggestion seems sound, though perhaps "nett rate" might be preferable to " corrected rate."

Two suggestions may be submitted for future consideration. It appears desirable to consider whether the matter cannot be re-arranged so as to make publication in two or more volumes feasible. As no separate pagination has been used for the " Abstracts," the tables forming that part of the Report might, with advantage for references, be numbered consecutively on from the other tables. The Registrar-General and Dr. Stevenson are to be cordially congratulated on the improvements they have made. Having regard to the magnitude and character of those improve- ments, no apology was needed for the delay in the issue of the Report, the preparation of which coincided with the time of greatest pressure of work connected with the recent census. R.D.

2.-arundriss der Statistik: enthaltend Bev6lkerunqs-, Wirtschafts-, Finanz-, und lHandels-Statistik. By Prof. Dr. Carl Ballod. 348 pp., 8vo. Berlin: J. Guttentag, 1913. Price 9 mks. 5opf.

This work, which the author modestly describes as an " Outline " of Statistics, and which might perhaps more appropriately be termed a " Statistical Handbook," possesses some features which are likely

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