reveals that 1,590 people died by accident or suicide as follows, the 1969 figures being given in brackets (though for the reason mentioned below a direct comparison with the 1969 figures is not possible):
Accidents
Traffic accidents
Accidental poisoning
Accidental falls from heights
Other accidents
376
(187)
24
***
(21)
138
(92)
512
(207)
1,050
(507)
Suicides
By poisoning
By jumps from heights
114
(79)
193
(104)
By other known means
233
(147)
540
(330)
1,590
(837)
It might appear from the foregoing figures that the number of registered deaths by accident and suicide increased appreciably during the year as compared with the preceding year. As mentioned above, however, a direct compariosn of the figures for the two years is not possible. The reason for this is that prior to 1969 deaths by accident or suicide were registered upon the issue of a mortuary return. A consequence of this practice was that in some cases deaths were registered before the coroner had obtained death reports, and this sometimes led to the necessity, after the death report had been obtained, of altering the cause of death in the death register. This was not a very satisfactory situation, and in 1969 the practice was changed so that only those deaths were registered where the coroner had either completed his findings or had indicated that he was not calling for a death report. The result of this change in practice was that the number of deaths registered in 1969 was much lower than it would have been had the previous practice been followed. This in turn resulted in a much larger registration figure for accident and suicide deaths in 1970, since it includes a large number of cases held over from the preceding year pending the coroner's decision. The numbers of deaths by accident or suicide over the past five years have been as follows (though for the reason mentioned above a direct comparison between last year's figures and the figures for previous years is not possible):
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