CURIOSITIES OF THE CENSUS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIII, Issue 2847, 16 June 1896, Page 2

CURIOSITIES OF THE CENSUS.

FORTY THOUSAND MORE MEN THAN . WOMEN IN THE COLONY. An examination of the census returns o{ the Colony shows that the total population, exclusive of Maoris, is 703,000, the males exceeding the females by nearly 40,000. As would naturally bo expected in a nfeW country, where the exigencies of settlement requite nien, add where there it little apoommodlition for their families., the males iu the country exceed the females by about 45,000, .ll.ut the latter are in the preponderance in the boroughs. ■ , .Tliere, are 3651 .Chinamop in tjie ColonJ, but only 34 Chinese women,, the latter being nearly evenly. distributed between the North and South Islands. Very nearly half of tho Chinese population is located in. tho province of Otago, the least number being in Marlborough. , , ■ ‘ ■ Taking the population by the counties, Selwyn takes first rank witb close ■ upon 30,000, the next on tho list being Southland, 21,559, with Fiord County having to its credit only 151 souls. Each of tho counties, with one or two exceptions, has an excess of males over females, and in Fiord there are more than throe men to every woman. Wellington loads tho boroughs with a population of 37,412, Auckland being second with 31,338. Avonal, in tho South Island, is the least populous borough, having only 327 persons within its boundaries.

In nearly all tho principal municipalities tho women are in excess of tho men, the total to their credit being about 8000. Gisborne stands in tho unique position of having tho sexes equal, whilst tho excess of women over men in Wellington is only a trifle, something like 400 in a population of over 37,000. Hampden runs Gisborne very close for the honour of having a mau for every wonan, for there is just one'mala representative who will havo to go beyond the municipal boundaries to bo mated; unless ho is to dio an old bachelor, Wellington Borough has the somewhat dubious honour of the greatest Chinese population, 212, against 154 in Duuodiu, tho next in rank. There are 22 boroughs iu tho South Island which tho Celestial has not yet exploited, and only six iu tho North Island. There are 27 electorates in the North Island with a population of 338,790, or an average to each of 12,548, and 35 in the South Island with an average of 10,312. Inangahua is the smallest electorate with a population of loss than 7000.