e deaths due to venereal disease. Many persons die from illnesses
which result from an initial syphilis contracted perhaps many years
prior to death. It is well known that medical practitioners, from a
laudable desire to spare the feelings of relatives, refrain from stating
the primary cause of death in such cases, and merely enter the secondary
or proximate cause. For the same reason, the statistics regarding deaths
due to alcoholism, and perhaps in a less degree some other factors in
the mortality returns, are incomplete and consequently useless.

Both the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases and the Birth-rate
Commission recommended that the medical attendant should issue two
certificates--one, which would be a simple certificate of death, to be
handed to the relatives, and the other, a confidential certificate
giving the primary cause of death, which would be transmitted to the
Registrar.

The Registrar-General for New Zealand, Mr. W.W. Cook, in his evidence in
chief, stated that he did not favour these suggestions. A certificate of
death, he said, cannot be regarded as confidential, as the information
contained therein is recorded in the death entry, which may be inspected
by the public, and of which a copy may be obtained by any applicant. In
reply to questions, however, he stated that the law could no doubt be
altered so as to make the death-certificate confidential, the
information to be given up only on an order from a Court of justice.
Apart from the fact that the insurance companies might object, he did
not see any objection from the public point of view.

Mr. Malcolm Fraser, the Government Statistician, said that there was
considerable division of opinion on this question at the British Empire
Statistical Conference held in London in 1920, when statisticians from
all parts of the Empire were present. It was generally agreed that the
system was good theoretically, but some doubt was expressed whether in
practice there would be as much improvement as was expected, since the
system would depend entirely on the medical attendant strictly complying
therewith and disclosing the true cause of death in every case. Any
system of confidential information always had that failing. The witness
thought the register must be open for persons having a right to call for
copies of entries. In dealing with insurance claims at death the truth
or otherwise of the statement in the proposal form was important, and
might require