The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 760, 18 February 1860, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, February Its, ■WW. -/ /STATISTICS OF NEW ZEALAND, 1858. 1 The census taken' in 1858 called upon the inhabitants of New Zealand to declare themselves as belonging to some religious denomination, but demanded no more special information as to'creed, attendance : on public worship, or, other circumstances from which . valuable religious statistics1 might be compiled.; The result shown by the census/as it was taken, is in a measure instructive, but not so much so as it' might have been to those who are -entrusted with the task of spreading the , means ; of /Divine worship throughout ■; the colony, v For instance, it would be important to know how many persons live at a distance of more than ten miles from any place of worship of their own denomination j hbvv many are favoured by the presence of ministers 'of'religion actively employed among them; what number of each denominar tion attend a regularly constituted service, or, attend'a service in a private building, or one performed by a layman,:or one conducted according to the forms of another denomination,'or do not (from whatever cause) attend any public service at all. -The census, as taken, does not in the slightest degree represent the religious condition of; the people, and must ; be very, inaccurate in what it professes to give—the numbers belonging ;to the several denominations.; We give the totals; such as ''they-are : —: .:' Church of England .....;.;....... 30,492 • , Churcho('Scotland,;FreeChurch, and other Presbyterians ... 11,513 Roman Catholic Church „.;..... 6,592 ! . . Wesleyan;Methodists .-...;....... 5,387 Congregational Independents ... 1,280 Baptists ...............;... 1,259 ... Primitive Methodists .... , '563 „ Lutherans 425 Hebrew 5......... 188 Society of Friend 5....;..../....,..,. 69 _ Other denominations specified. ....,[ ■ 968 No denomination,or hot described 592

A note appended to,the table in which these figures are g; iven,with; the proportions supplied 'I by' each 'province, informs us that the' denominations are for the' most part classified according' to the order given in the schedule in.the 'Marriage Act, 1854.' "The Presbyr terian bodies have been brought under one headings there being sufficient grounds for believing1 that in very." many instances. the householders, in rilling "the cpnsus forms, did not regard the '' distinct!ye designations of the severaf Presbyterian Churches. The actual numbers, as compiled from the original schedules, are respectively,—-Church of Scotland, 2,201 ; Free Church, 4,252; Presbyterians, ;5,011; (Presbyterian). Church ofOtago, 49.". On comparing the numbers of the religious, denominations in each of the \ provinces, we find that in Canterbury ;the s ; greatest preponderance of any occurs.. Here the Church of England claims 6,535 out of 8,967—a proportion of nearly three-quarters. In'ffawk.es Bay the majority is.that-of 'about'.three-.' fifths,;or 939. to' l,&ty£sr In Nelson' 5,098 outVof 9,272, in■;.-Wellington , 6,417 .out: of 11,753, and in Taranaki .1,380 out of 2,650 show that in those places the same church is in only in a bare majority. In Otago only onefourth^—l,77l among 6,944— profess the English/doctrines. In the whole of New Zealand, out of a population of 59,328,. the Church of England numbers just above one-half or 30,492. In Otago,, the Church'of Scotland: possesses scarcely two-thirds of the communit}1 "—4,565; • the Presbyterian body is numerous also in Auckland andin Wellington, where about oneseventh of the inhabitants are stated to belongto it. The strong* hold of the Roman Catholic Church appears to be in Auckland, where its doctrines are adopted-by 3995, among 18,177 —between one-fourth and one-fifth. In Hawkes Bay. the proportion is about' oneeighth. lii Wellirig-ton the Roman Catholic body numbers 1247, in: Nelson 588, in. Canterbury 366. The Wesleyani,Methodist body is by far stronger in Wellington and Nelson in proportion to: population than in any otlier province, numbering there oneeighth to one-ninth .of each population. The only other'body of proportionately extensive1 numbers is that of the Primitive Methodists in.New Plymouth, who comprise nearly oneeighth of the population— 1314.

Next to'the statistics of Religion come those of Education. Here the object has been aimed at, and means taken to arrive at it, which' we have observed to be wanting in the department referring- to Religion. Nevertheless, as.the close enquiries of the' census are held by many to partake of an inquisitorial character, it may not be advisable to attempt too much at once. „ Even^ in the matter of Education we are told by Dr. Bennett that; "It is not assumed that the: figures are absolutely accurate, for the columns for school attendance were those which in many instances were the' least satisfactorily filled up." The totals for the colony are:—

: The comparative advancement ; in education' in proportion ,to population; in each province is given us,' to save trouble/ in a separate tabled calculated in a centesimal proportion. It is needless for us here"" to do more .than indicate that Hawkes Bay (perliops from the same;causeVwlnch operates to give her a large adult single male population) takes the

lead of all MiHe" provinces ; iri this respect, having 66.?8 percent- of her population able tS and write. Nelson ■.O^ury. come next, almost abreast, ™$:MMm 6G.13 per cent respec^ve y. rp QtagO ( bowte of 64.85, Wellingtonof 62.45, Taranaki.of,6l.B2--'thorouglily.educated' persons; and Auckland turns out to be the most uneducated of all, possessing only 6U9 per c(^t of lier sons and daughters who have achieved the preliminaries of scholarship. But, turning to the column of those from 12 years _ old and upwards, we have a more correct index to the general intelligence of the: community ; for of the' rest, who are beneathvthat age, it happens that a great proportion in some or the provinces do not overstep the'months and years of perfect infancy. "This column tells well for; Otago,: and upholds the hereditary claim of Scotchmen to superior intelligence; at the same time it supports.our theory with respect to Hawkes Bay. We/place _ the figures side by side, "showing the centesimal proportion of'males and females respectively, under the age of 12 and of and above that age, able to read and write, calculated from the returns of a census taken in December, 1858"-— :■■ ••■•■■• / ■■=•■•■ :'-?."•; :[y;.

The average for the colony is stated to be 25.19 per cent of the population .who can neither read nor write; 11.30 per cent who caii read, but not write; 63.51 per cent who can both read and write. ■ .

The whole statement is a proud one for the South .Island,-and-offers an excellent answer to-the assertion that our power of self-govern-ment would be diminished by: separation from the North. Theoretically, no dogma' is sounder than that education is necessary: to the proper exercise of the franchise; and practically, all electioneering agents will testify to the fact that the voter who cannot read and write is ten times over liable to be imposed upon and led astray. It is not satisfactory, therefore/ to find that the population of the southern provinces, all of which are above the average of educational status, should be bound to submit politically,: because inferior in numbers, to that of the northern provinces, all of which (Hsiwkes Bay again excepted) are of a lower degree of education and intelligence, and therefore are more disposed to misuse their high privileges and to disregard the important duties committed to them by a free constitution. But this is not the place to open a political disquisition. ■ The remaining table of the. series refer-, ring to education gives the numbers of the population of Eui'opean descent attending" schools.■•'-■At- schools supported by Government or Public Aid, 1,850 males and 1,043 females attended day schools, 307 males and 320 females attended Sunday schools only, and 967 males and 808 females attended both day and Sunday schools. At Private schools, ■1,141 males and 1093 females attended on. the week days only, 622 males and 603 females on Sundays'only j and 727 males and 691 females attended every day. Of the. figures referring to '■ the provinces it is to be observed that.: Nelson makes a great display on the Government school side of the. table, and Wellington on the; private side. Otago is remarkable for the number of scholars attending private Sunday schools. Canterbury, we regret to say, has got nothing at all to boast of in any particular.

■''■'■■" Under 12 years of age; ■'■'■' Males.: Females. ,Totals. Cannot read .;.".... .6,680 6,198 12,878 Readonly ......... 2,017 2,044 4,061 Read and write... 2,441;' 2,226: 4,667 ■: 12 years and upwards. Cannot read 7..... 1,237 '■ 829: 2,066 Read only;.....;.. . 1,209 . 1,433 2.642 Read and write,.. 20,043 12,971 33,014 Totals of all ages in each province.. ; •.,■■;. -. ' ■■'■■" Cflntl. ot- Readonly. Eea^ nd , read. ■ ■ ■ . ' write. Auckland ...;...., 4,790 ; 2,264 ' 11,123 Taranaki ...;..... -662 ;i 363 . 1,625 ■WelKngtoh '...,.. - 2,989- 1,424 .7,340 HawlwB-Bay....;. ".. 402 . .101 1,011 Nelson: V. :2,271: ' 864 ' '6,137/ Canterbuiy ■...... : 2,204 .' ''.-. 833 5,930': Otago;,...;..;..;...- 1,595 ;. : 846 '■- 4,503 Stewarts 1 Island'..:. : 31 "8 ;. 12 1 14,944 ■ 6,703 37,681

. • . Under 12; ; VI ana-upwards. ■■Mains. Females. Males. Females. Auckland:...... 21.65- 21.66 85.71 79.56 Taranald .....:• 21.68 19.52 89.36 86.06 Wellington ... 23.93 22.76 /88.4,0 8419 Hawkes Bay... 13.62 16.35*87.88 82.72 N,elson ......... 22.64 23.31 92.23 89.00 Canterbury ... 23.39 20.31 90.61 89.93 Otago ...;.,... 18.24 17.65 93.72 91.17