MAORIS IN HEW ZEALAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17084, 16 August 1917, Page 5

MAORIS IN HEW ZEALAND

CENSUS RETURNS. (From Oub Own Correspondent.} ti ..I WELLINGTON, August 15. Iho total Maori population, according to the census taken in October, was 49,776 A paper laid on the tablo of the House'this aiternoon by tho Native Minister statets that since 1901' tho figures 6now an increase until tho last census, when a decrease of 68, as compared with 1911, was shown. How far the figuras on this occasion aro affected by enlistment it is difficult to say, but they must' be affected to some extent. The enumerators for the North Island—particularly the Taranaki and Waikato districts—report that some difficulty was experienced in obtaining information owing to the fear on the part of the Nativeis that the statistics were being obtained for tho purpose of recruiting. The enumerators generally - renort that with the exception of the smallpox epidemic in 1913, and some cases of typhoid, the health of the natives has been generally good, and that in most districts' there has been a continued improvement in the habits of lifo and industry of tho Maoris, especially in districts where land is being opened up and settlement advancing, giving greater opportunities of employment, etc. <Jn the whole the reports may be regarded as indicating satisfactory progress, but there is still much scope for improvement. The census for the South Island was taken with tho European census on this occasion, as the natives and half-castes there aro regarded ajs living as Europeans.