THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1879.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5350, 9 January 1879, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1879.

The returns furnished by the last Census give opportunities for looking at the condition of the people from so many different points of view, that one hardly knows which position to take up first. The statistics shew all about the population and houses occupied by the people, their ages, their religions, their birthplaces, their conjugal condition, their occupations, their education, their sickness and inGrmity ; all about the land, crops, live stock, butter and cheese, agricultural machines, industries, land and building societies, public libraries, mechanics' institutes, places of worship. The most convenient time for public writers dealing with the results of a Census, is when they have some hobby to maintain, or some political points to urge, or when they want to shew that it is essential some public work should be made, at some particular place, or when they are called upon to shew the utter baselessness of the assertions of their political opponents respecting the progress of the country or the state of the revenue. Then is afforded an opportunity of shewing how easy it is to make figures say anything. It is difficult to make figures interesting in any other way, and this fact must be the excuse for many of the tricks that are played with them. For once, however, we may fish at random amongst the statistics last issued, having the sole object of placing a few interesting facta before our readers. After all that lias been said about abolishing Provincial Institutions, and after all that has been done by legislation with that view, when it is desired to compare one part of the colony with another, the Provincial divisions are those to which people will first turn. Colonists have not yet begun to take pride in their Counties—we do not hear of settlers boasting of being a Hobson man or a West Taupo man, but all take pride in hailing from Otago, or Canterbury, or Auckland. Our comparisons shall, therefore, chiefly be between the different Provinces. There are, indeed, only four Provincial Districts which, from area and population, admit of fair and easy comparison, and in order that we start fair, we give the figures shewing the population of these :— Auckland, 82,GG1 ; Wellington, 51,009; Canterbury, 91,922; Otago, 114,409. There is one particular point in respect to which there are 110 figures in the census returns enabling a close comparison to be made, and that is, as to the capacity of expansion which each Provincial District possesses. The acreage of each Province is not known with anything like precision, but their areas are believed to be somewhat as follow : —Auckland, 18,000,000 acres ; Taranaki, 2,399,000; Hawke's Bay, 2,810,000; Wellington, 7,400,000; Nelson, 6,700,000; Marlborough, 3,000,000; Canterbury,

1,000,000; Otago (with Southland), 0,438,240. The eitent of occupied toldings in Auckland, over 1 acre in ixtent, is 1,220,007 ; in Wellington, ,184,463 ; in Canterbury, 1,700,081 ; in )tago, 2,170,008. The proportion in Auckland, therefore, of land occupied for ,ettlanient is very much smaller, in loniparison with its total area, than in my other Province. In Canterbury ,liere are 3,453,501 acres, and in Dtago 7,240,939 acre 3 rented for jastoral purposes only, but although ;hat occupation contributes much to the .vealtli of tlie Provinces, it is not of much .nterest in the present .estimate. But -lie next consideration is most important. People buying land in Canterbury and Otago, have fur many years past had the whole surfacebefore them where to choose, md it is only fair to suppose that what lias not been taken up for some purpose or another consists of land hopelessly barren, or of sterile, snow-covered mountains. No doubt there lie many years of rapid progress yet before Canterbury and Otago. Communication will bo opened with districts which are at present off the lines of road or railway, and these will produce immeasurably more than they do at present, and discoveries of mineral resources may be made at any time. But in Auckland most of the land not in beneficial occupation by Europeans is in the hands of the natives, and instead of this being the worst part of the Province, it is the best. From one limit of settlement at Te Awamutu, in Waikato, to the other limit at Waitara, in Taranaki, is 120 miles in a straight line, comprehending half of the island at its broadest part, iucludiug much land known to be exceedingly fertile; and yet in all this thero is no European settlement at all. Over all the rest of the Province also there are large area 3 of native land. Ultimately "it will come to this : that after ample reserves are made for the natives, the rest of the land will fall into the hands of Europeans. So that Auckland, in the future, has acouzse to run not open to any other part of the colony to the same extent, and will ultimately (but when ?) leave them far behind in the race. When the Southern Provinces are all occupied, we shall have vast expanses of fertile country open for the investment of capital, and, by their conversion from fern to grass and crops, adding to the prosperity of this part of the country. Amongst the census tables thero is one shewing the number of live stock and poultry, with the annual production of butter and cheese ; the number and description of agricultural machines, and tlie quantity of grain and ilour on hand, and from this we may set forth a few comparisons. In respect to only one animal is Auckland at the top of the list, and this is the worse than useless animal, the goat. Of these pertinacious garden plunderers, Auckland lias 4,737; Wellington, 559 ; West-land, 2,040 ; Canterbury, 1,025 ; Otago, 2,835. The great predominance of Canterbury is in pigs, of which she has more than double any other province. The numbers are :— Auckland, 38,459 ; Wellington, 23,531; Canterbury, 82,807 ; Otago, 30,278. In cattle Auckland stands well, being a long way ahead of Wellington and Canterbury, and not far short of Otago. The numbers are :—Auckland, 127,575 ; Wellington, 99,234 ; Canterbury, 100,310 ; Otago, 147,929. It is interesting to notice the rate of increase since last Census in this department, and turning to the figures compiled in 1874, we find that Auckland has made the largest absolute and relative increase. Auckland has increased by 21,980 ; Wellington, by 14,552 ; Canterbury, by 13,55S ; Otago, by 11,008. In the whole colony there were 575,430 cattle. We find that by the last census of Victoria (taken in 1877) there were in that colony, 1,174,170 cattle ; while in New South Wales there were 2,740,385, so that there is still abundant room for increase in this colony. It is satisfactory to find that Auckland has made so much progress, and it may bo confidently anticipated that by next Census Auckland, in respect of cattle, will be far ahead of all other Provinces. In slieep, Auckland is, as might be expected, a long way astern, being beaten by every Province except Taranaki and Wastland. The numbers are, Auckland, 540,277 ; Wellington, 1,380,305 ; Hawke's -Bay, 1,572,54-1 ; Marlborough, 799,902 ; Nelson, 020,331 ; Canterbury, 3,500,301 ; Otago, 4,440,023. The total number of sheep in the colony is, 13,009,338 ; in Victoria, 10,114,207 ; in New South Wales, 20,902,244. These two lastnamed colonies may be taken to have reached their limit, and the last Census shews a considerable docrease in both ; but in New Zealand there has been an increase of about 2,000,000 over the return of last Census. We may remark that the largest proportional increase is in Auckland (from 340,241 to 540,277) and Taranaki, while the increase in Otago and Canterbury has beon very small.