D.—No. 1.

CENSUS OF NEW ZEALAND, 1867.

Registrar-General's Office, Wellington, 10th June, 1868. Sir,— The Tables which I have the honour to present herewith exhibit certain principal Results of the Census of the Colony taken for the night of the 19th of December last, being those which there is the most general desire to have officially made known without the delay which must necessarily attend a sufficiently careful compilation of other branches of the Census Statistics, such as those relating to Education, Religious Denominations, Occupations, Places of Birth, &c. Detached portions of the information included in them have, indeed, already obtained publicity; partly through local newspapers to which Enumerators were permitted to supply it; partly through the publication in Provincial Gazettes of the Agricultural Statistics; and partly through the publication in the New Zealand Gazette of a general compilation of these latter Statistics from the several Provincial Returns; and I at one time hoped that the series of Tables now presented would be ready at an earlier date than on former occasions, notwithstanding the amount of additional clerical labour in compilation consequent upon the requirements of " The Census Acts Amendment Act" of last Session. This, however, I found to be impracticable, ■ — chiefly because of the numerous inaccuracies and discrepancies in the Returns forwarded to me by some of the Enumerators, the correction of which involved, in more than one instance, tedious examination of the original Household Eorms. A very considerable portion of the time which a reader of the Census Acts might reasonably suppose was available for the work properly devolving upon the Registrar-General, has been occupied in labour (often of a harassing and perplexing character) for which there would have been no necessity if all the Enumerators had sent in, as some did, Returns which would bear the simple test of an examination whether the figures in the compilations agreed amongst themselves. The Results in the following Tables are, however, believed to be reliable for all practical purposes. It is possible, indeed, that the compilations yet to be made of other branches of the Census may develop some discrepancies which may render a further revision of even these figures necessary; but there is no reason to apprehend that these will be of importance beyond what relates to statistical accuracy in every detail; and the Results as here given may, I believe, be safely used for all purposes, — political, social, or financial, —in which the information obtained by the Census may be required. It will be convenient to state here briefly the contents of these Tables, with the addition of a few particulars not shown in them. They are Nine in Number, and may be generally arranged in three classes, — the Eirst relating to Population; the Second to Land, Cultivation, and Crops; and the Third to Live Stock.

Previous Publication of portions of Census Results.

Contents of this Paper.