"THE STATISTICS FOR 1858."

Wellington Independent, Volume XV, Issue 1403, 3 February 1860, Page 3

"THE STATISTICS FOR 1858."

We briefly alluded in our last, to the volume of " Statistics for 1858," which has just been published by the General Government, and for a copy of which we aave to express our acknowledgments to the Colonial Secretary. Without attempting a digest of the information this volume contains, we now propose I placing before our readers a few items. all tending to show that in the race for I prosperity which the Provinces are run- 1 ning, Wellington makes a most respec- j .table second, occasionally taking a good lead. ° Population, &t\— The Population of Ihe colpn • which in 1851, was 26,70^, had reached in , JB>B to 09,328. That of Wellington (including Hawke's Bay) which io 1851 was 6,409, had

, reached in 1858 to 13,267. The Wellington increase (luring the above seven years was 6,858 as against Auckland's 8747. The various religious denominations in I I Wellington divide the population as follows ! ! —Church of England 6,417, (giving with 939 ' in Hawke's Bay, a total of 7356 in Bishop Abraham's' diocese.) Presbyterians, 1710. I Wesieyaus, 1448. Roman Catholics, 1247. j Congregationalism, 202.' Baptists 226 „ Pri--1 initire Methodists 141. Other denominations 362. The state of education in Wellington is veiy satisfactory, especially as regards the number of children attending private schools. The number of children under 12 years in the whole colony, is 21,656. The average centesimal attendance in Government schools is 23 and in private schools 23, showing v per ceutage of 45 under actual instruction of some sort or another In Wellington the population under 12 years is 4,494. The centesimal attendance in Government schools is 20 and on Private schools 37, showing that there is the large por centuge of 57, of our juvenile population, under the school masteis eye. The native population in the Northern Island amounts to 53,056 ;of which 38,269 nre in Auckland and 8,099 in Wellington. There are in the Middle Island only22B3,and in Stewart's Island, 200; making a total Maori population in the three Islands of 55,539— 3,789 less than the European, which is 59,328. The provinces in which the Maori race yet out number the European arc

Houses.—There are in the Colony 10 179 wooden houses, 307 brick or stone, and 2 32(5 Jf other materials-total 12,812; giving an average occupaicy of a little more .than 4s. souls The domestic condition of Wellington may he gathered from the following particulars Number of wooden houses 2,458, hrick &c, 22 other materials 319 ; total 2,799. These are inhabited by 1939 mMnied males, 1901 manied females, 97 widowers, 149 widows, 4 488 iin married males and 3,179 unmarried female* these two last mentioned i.cludine- 4 494 ,-hil' dren-under 12 years. The occupancy fn th'l province is slightly below the average for th'p Colony, being a trifle less than 4£. The low average, throughout the Colony, arises fvotn the general realisation of the desire to posses a house of his own, with which every industrious settler is animated.

Trade and Commerce.— The number of vessels entered inwards during 185S was 3 39 amounting to 90,118 tons, exclusive of coaster/ Wellington s share is 59 vessels, 13,227 tons— the arrivals in this harbour ouly falling below those in the port of Auckland by 7 vessels The imports into the colony in 1853" werp £597,828; in 1858 they were £1141273 Wellington (including Hawke's Bay)' has in' creased from £161,457 in 1853 to £283,899 in 1858.' The principal places of import, in 1858 were »

21135 The exports from the Colony U) 1853 Wp, £303,282; in 1858 they were idSS (W3 Ev^" province has considerably increased with Jj.i exception of Auckland, whose exports during Hie last few jean have Ween era.lually decrc« * lag. In 1853 they were £ 155,323;" in 85« they were ouly £91,749. We.liu^i, (Induce of Hatvkes Bay) exported to the vili.l \r *10CJ854in1853,a,d to £114^00 in f5 s The follomug were our chief

Jn The shipments of wool in is-n ~ ~<^~u £66,508, £ which We! Jton iS"^ tO f Hawkessßay) contribute,! £46,8^ "'^ they amounted to £254,025, to whic),'\V 1 r ton coutribnted £75,915. Tlfe "*,„„ V '"" however accurately show Iheqgnu^ nu J nrT ""» some shipments having bee^na^m^' ling on, especally in the earlier yea receded coastwise from other provinces There w. re 13,533 oz. of Void „■,!„ 7 * £52,444, oxportea from Ne,v ZeLlaad^ ffiM almost entirely the produce of £{™ ™ of which was «c it from Wellington Thp . ,\ value of New Zealand gold exited l» i«?---and 1858 amounted to £92 886 5/ Postal.-The total number of letters received and debpatched during J857 w... A^o^r^ that of newspapers 684,357.' The WenL",^ office accounts for 171 70a nf t, ton Piovince onlj, bwo.. .'.nrl f 1"?' were directed to th. Post ma3,er here" f n th« cattle, 137,188 as against 34,787 -and sheeV 1,523,316, as apinst 233,043. Of il^incSe Wellingtons ahare (including Hawke's Bay,) is 3,926 horses in 1858 to 788 in 1851 • 40201 cattle to 11,407; and 336,3.4 sheep to hi 009 Cultivation,—The number of acre« of fenr-ed land in 1851 was 30,470, in i BSB g£ Ihe number of acres under crop in 1851 WIS 29,140, in 1858 it is 140,065. Wellingtoß Including Hawke's Bay,) had 5,911 acres fenced in 1801, the number in 1858 is 44 984 In JBsli h on« U^ be, r o«o . acres Wo had «nde' r "op ofn«n 396> I," XBSB " 8S 27 >364 ' of wl»eh 22,060 were " sown grasst" This is satisfactory ih one sense, inasmuch as it shows that the paddock system is increasing. Auckland, which returns 60,201 acres under crop, has 50 319 of them in grass, proving how much attention has been given to overcome he« deficency of country suitable, in its natural condition, for pastoral purposes. Eevenuk,—The revenue of the colony was in 1851 £149,820, in 1858 it had risen to £341 655.' That of Wellington (including Hawke's Bay,)' ranks first, amounting in 1851 to £35,772, aiid in 1858 to £94,861, exclusive of receipts from loans. The Customs' revenue in all the prosines has lnrgely increased; but in consequence of the decrease in the territorial revenue of Auckland and Taranaki, the total revenue of. each of these two provinces is less in 1858 than it was' iv 1851. The Coubts.—ln 1858 there were 91 criminal committals for trial before the Supreme Court, of which 62 resulted in convictions. Welling-r ton's shaie was the largest, being 34 of the foimer and 25 of the laU«r, very little more,, however, than those oi Nelson, where there are no troops and which generally claims to be the best ordered of all the provinces. The number of civil actions commenced in the Supreme Court was 108, of which only 15

came to trial, 10 resulting in verdicts for plaintills and 6 for defendants; all the remaining ; cases were disposed of by the Judge,, suffered ! judgment by default or were withdrawn. Wei ! lington's share of the 108 actions commenced was 28, and 8 out of the 15 that came to trial. , In. the Resident Magistrates Court, there weie 3,216 criminal cases disposed of, 2,589 resulting in convictions. O.it of the former number only 713 belonged to Wellington, of which 54(5 resulted in convicdons. There were also 4,714 civil cases tried, in the whole of the eo'ony, by wliicri means £30,150 were recovered out of £58,804 sued for.

It will be seen that we have sometimes been oh i red to include the Statistics of flawkes Bay in those of Wellington. This arises from the compiler nyt being able always to separate the returns of the two provinces, Hawkes Bay having been au integral portion of Wellington until the Ist November, 1658, when it separated . In the niJ.it'ily summiry, we hope to publish these Statistics more in detail, for though they relate to the slate of New Zealand thirteen months ago they are nevertheless of the most valuable character.

We cannot, however, conclude the present article without bearing testimony to the care and painstaking displayed by Dr. Bennett and his assistants. The amount of work in such a c nnpil.ition is vnj g ca t an I whil ; Jwe gshmild have been glad to have received them before we know it is from no lack of exertion on their part.

EUROPEAN. M.4.01U. Auckland „, 18,177 38 "(59 Taranaki ... 2,050 Hawkes Bay 1,514 3,673

TT V i COLONY. WELLINGTON. U. Kingdom 532,596 163 s«fi N. S. Wales 6QM32 „7900 Victoria 7/, 042 oi',«

I U.Kingdm» aSSSS I N.S. Wales 132,035 ,^ Victoria 73,736 ok>>H