Wellington Census Figure ‘Misleading’

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31153, 1 September 1966, Page 3

Wellington Census Figure ‘Misleading’

(Neto Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 31. The Mayor of Wellington (Sir Francis Kitts) said yesterday that the Department of Statistics was painting an inaccurate picture of Wellington.

He was commenting on provisional census figures which give Auckland’s population as 547,915 and Wellington’s as 167.844. “If it is fair to combine northern and southern areas of Auckland for population purposes, it is just as fair to combine the Wellington areas which are at present divided,” he said. The Mayor of Upper Hutt (Mr P. H. Kinsman) said areas as far north as WaiI kanae, including Paraparaumu, Paekakariki and Rauimati. should be classified as : “Wellington” in population (statistics. J The Mayor of Lower Hutt (Mr P. Dowse) and the Mayor of Eastbourne (Mr C. L. Bishop) also said the comparison with Auckland was misleading. Additional areas should be included in the

Wellington figures, they said. The Mayor of Porirua (Mr W. J. Brown) said Porirua was a growing industrial city and should not be combined with Wellington. “The Hutt Valley should be statistically combined with Wellington in population figures, but Porirua should stand alone,” he said. If the Hutt Valley, Paraparaumu, Paekakariki, Waikanae and Raumati were added to the present Wellington figure the total would be about 300,000. Although Auckland’s urban area has increased by 22.5 per cent since 1961 its population has only grown 4.2 per cent. Wellington’s population is up 6.2 per cent in the same period but the urban area has increased by only 11.5 per cent. The Department of Statistics reviews census areas every 20 years. The next review will precede the 1971 census.