POPULATION STATISTICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13745, 9 May 1908, Page 5

POPULATION STATISTICS.

METHOD OF COMPUTATION. A CHRISTCHURCH PROTEST. [BT TKLKCRAI'H. —OWN* corrkspon DENT. ] • C'HHisxCHCrr.CH, Friday. The Times expresses gratification that the Canterbury Industrial Association is mak ing a protest against the manner in wliicl the Registrar-General is now presenting the population statistics of the four cities of the Dominion. Until a few. months ago the population of each of the cities was shown, with - the population . of it; suburbs, and under this system Auckland was placed at the head of the list, with a margin of 14,000 or 15,000 souls, while Christchurch was second, Wellington third, and Dunedir fourth. ' Apparently this arrangement did not please someone in authority in the capital city, and now Auckland and Christchurch have been deprived of the assistance . of the bulk of their suburbs, with the result that Auckland appears in the registrar's monthly returns as only a bare 1000 ahead of Wellington, while Christchurch is placed even below Dunedin. The method by which the registrar lias exalted Wellington at the expense of Auckland and Chris (.church is simplicity itself. He lias taken from Auckland all the residential parts of the road districts that have been counted in its suburbs, and by this means. has brought its population down from 82,101 at the dale of the last census, just two years ago, to 71,916 at. the end of last month. Christchurch has been treated more unjustly. Spreydon and New Brighton, and the populous parts of Ricearton, Avon, and .Heathcote, which are really continuations of the city, have been cut. off from its population area, and its figures have been reduced from 67,878, at the time of the census, to 57,078. Now, Wellington, on the other hand, has been allowed to retain all its suburbs, though they arc far less part;; ■ of. the city than Ricearton, Avon, and Heathcote are parts of Christchurcli, and its population is shown to have grown during the two years from 63,807 to 70,947. Dunedin has been cared for in the same fashion, and by having the people of half [ a dozen boroughs added to its numbers, j is able to boast of an increase of population from 56,020 to 59,495. "We do not know,", continues the- Times, "how the Registrar-General will reconcile his figures with the statement he made in the last official Year Book, to the effect that the population of Auckland was, increasing at a. much greater rate than that of Dunedin, but we suppose he will take refuge in the pilen-.e which has helped many another officer over a, similar difficulty.