STATISTICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8283, 16 June 1890, Page 10

STATISTICS.

THE CUSTOMS RETURNS. The Customs revenue for May, exclusive o! Timaru, was £125,657, against £126,274 for April, and £110,062 for May, 1889. Timaru will contribute about £2000. The amounts at the principal ports were Auckland, £24,902; Wellington, £24,077; Christchurch, £22,177 Dunedin, £32,400. The beer duty, exclusive of Timaru and Westport, was £4251, against £4615 for April, and £4147 for May of last year, Auckland contributed £957 ; Wellington, £536; Christchurch, £818; and Dunedin, £1059. The two missing places will furnish abouti £110 more. LAND SETTLEMENT. The Minister of Lands (says our Wellington correspondent) has allowed me tc copy a return showing the increase of land settlement from year to year since 1883. The point of the return is that the increase of acres has been steadily progressive, and that the number of new selectors from year to year shows but little variation. The following are the figures :— Acres. Increase. Selectors. 1883 _ 27,352 .„—«.— 1884 _ 28,587 .- 1235 « 2318 1885 _ 29,814 _ 1227 _ 2114 1886 _ 31,763 _ 1949 „ ls.-)7 1887 _ 33,332 _ 1569 ... 2914 1888 „. 34,743 ... 1401 ... 2401 1889 _ 35,747 _ 1004 ,„ 2225 1890 ... 38,178 ... 2431 2118 It will be seen from the above return that the increase in the number of acres taken up is larger in 1890 than in any previous one of the six years. lb shows as above stated that from year to year land has been taken up on settlement conditions progressively. AGRICULTURAL BET URNS. Some time ago we gave the detailed agricultural statistical information acting several of the counties in this district, and we now learn that the total statistical information relating to agriculture, collected in February last, has been arranged at Wellington. The following totals have been telegraphed to us from that city :—The total number of holdings is 38, 178, an increase of 2431 on the year. The area of wheat has decreased 26,292 acres, the total being 335,861 acres, producing 8,445,506 bushels. The area of oats has increased 18,8-16 acres, from 367,225 to 426,071, the yield being 13,673,554. Barley shows a small decrease. The acreage was 42,402, and the yield 1,342,823. There were 30,577 acres of potatoes, producing 159,729 tons. There were 352,903 acres in turnips or rape, and 42,889 in hay, yielding 65,476 tons, 5820 ton 3 less than last year. Twenty-fiva acres of tobacco yielded 11,3701bs dried leaf. Land in garden is 8568 acres, in orchard 15,771, and in plantations of forest trees 28,928. There are 197 ensilage stacks in the colony. The return of cattle gives 772,358, Auckland having 190,000, Wellington 152,000, Otago 143.000, Taranaki, 99,000, and Canterbury 88,000.

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS. The following are the railway returns for the' four weeks ending 26th April:— NORTH ISLAND. Revenue, Expenditure. % of & s. d. £ 3. (1. Rev. Kawakawa _ 2, „ 8 0 257 7 Si 94. 84 Whangarei _ 153 la I 152 4 *' 90.0!) Auckland „, 8,70418 (5 5,853 (i oH 61.50 Napier _» 5,149 9 11) »555 10- of 49.63 Wellington „ 0,062 11 1 "&',?>sl 0 I ss.SS Wanganui _ 6,5G9 li ll 4,575 in $ i;«.6i Totals „ 27,-211 11 0 10,251 13 3 50.71 MIDDLE ISLAND. Revenue. Expenditure. % oi £ s. d. £ a. d. Rev. Hurnmii Bluff 69,006 14 3 83,340 0 1 48.27 Greymouth.. 2,405 (ill) 987 10 l 41.05 Westport _ 2,339 12 2 1,423 13 0 80.83 Nelson _ 70& 16 10 678 i 0 95.51 Ticton _ 660 10 6 405 17 4 61.45 Totals .. 75,182 0 7 36,5=35 5 0 48.99 Grand totals 102,303 12 5 53,086 13 3 61.65 VITAL STATISTICS. The following are the vital statistics for April:— Popu- Total Total %of Deaths lation. Births. Deaths, per 1000, Auckland ._ 33,307 68 22 0.66 Wellington 31,028 95 46 1.48 Christchurch 17,116 26 13 0.76 Dunedin -. 24,168 43 '10 1.20 Thames .. 4,627 12 4 0.86 New Plymouth 2,803 13 6 2.07 Napier _ 8,876 36 18 2.03 Wanganui „ 5,107 9 3 0.59 Blenheim _ 3,035 10 — — Nelson „ 7,777 13 13 1.67 Sydenham M 10,222 29 7 0.6S Lyttelton .. 4,127 12; c 1.21 Tiuiaru _ 8,925 12 5 1.27 Oamaru _ 6,700 10 4 0.70 Grey mouth 3,727 7 4 1.07 Hokitika .. 2,610 3 3 1.15 Caversham 4,027 15 5 1.01 . Invercargill 5,160 7 9 1.74 Totals „ 420 106 Deaths of persons not residents of boroughs occurring ab hospitals have been excluded in all cases. The total births in above boroughs amounted to 420, against 419 in March, an increase of 1. The deaths in April were 196, the same as in March. Of the total deaths, males contributed 100, and females 96. Seventy-four of the deaths were of children under five years of age, being 37.76 per cent, of the whole number. Fifty-nine of these were under one year of age.