THE CENSUS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10763, 10 May 1911, Page 4

THE CENSUS.

' - • - (Per; Press Association.) - Wellington; May 9. The census returns of the number of uninhabited dwellmgs" ~ih the city, of Wellington and its' suburbs, : published on the 3rd May, gave the following statistics. of dwellings in the city jproper —that is, Greater Wellington, excluding Miramar, Onslow, Karori, and other- adjacent suburban boroughs: habited, 13,963;' uninhabited, 938; in course of erection, 79; —total dwellings, 14,980. - ' - Feeling that the position was not correctly' stated in these figures, the Mayor (Mr T. M. Wilford) gave instructions .to .the chief sanitary inspector (Mr Ijames DoyleX-to have a complete inspection .madWjof eyefy? street in the city - arid suburbs', comprising- Greater Wellihgtbtij land. ,aiif. sxhaustive count taken of/all the- empty dwelling-houses. His object was to. ascertain whether' the Census Department's statistics relating to Wellington in this respect were accurate.- x ' "" '

Mr Doyle furnished Mr Wilford with a statement. In it the different streets of the city were specified and the number of empty louses in each and ,the number of empty houses in each of the outlying districts were also tabulated. In all 306 streets were inspected, and the whole city covered with the exception of the purely business centre of the-city-. -The-report shows- the number of tininhabited dwellings to be 490, ; including 167. in. the. outlying districts. ].» 'ln ,'furnishiiig;/this statement .to a .Eosfe representative to-day,, the Mayor ■added' th'at"'"it showed'-unquestionably returns; were^statistically "incorrect, "misleading, and utterly worthless:. dh iespejbt ip the empty, houses in Wellington. Mr Doyle would be quite prepared to meet, any representative • of. the Census Department who doubted these figures and prove that in this particular the census; returns were wrong. "You may say,"concluded Mr Wilford, "that this'report will for ever settle the question; of empty housesso far as the city of Wellington is concerned, and in regard to many of the empty dwellings Mr Doyle says that they can only be described as of..fantiquetype.' . The.up-to-date house' with modern conveniences is noi, empty. One citizen, who owns "two hundred .houses .in :the city,;declares that only 'eight of them are unoccupied: -When the .whole number of iempty, houses "s taken-triißQ out' of 13,054* dwellihgs-r-it ainounts to less than 4 per cent., which surely cannot be regarded as a very extraordinary or alarming proportion, and the citizens will feel reassured."