BOROUGH AND COUNTY POPULATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 20, 2 November 1945, Page 4

BOROUGH AND COUNTY POPULATION

STATISTICS resulting from the last census and; covering the Whakatane area have been the cause of great surprise and wide speculation. For the Borough of Whakatane, the increase between the 1936 and 45 census was over a thou-, sand —a record which so far has not been reached by any other provincial town in the Dominion. For the the figures show an increase of 542, but to this must be added the large number of men still serving overseas with the armed forces. Another feature of the statistics relating to the County is that approximately 150 residents now living at the Heads, were transferred since the last census to the Borough. The figures, as they stand, are as under:; — Borough: 1936—1,733; 1945—2,804; increase 1071. County: 1936—9,667; 1945—1,029; increase 542. The history of the Whakatane district since the census of 1916, is one of remarkable progress, and steadily increasing population. Since the drainage and conversion of the Rangitaiki Plains from a swamp waste to a smiling landscape of productive dairy farms, the future of the Eastern Bay of Plenty has been assured. A brief review of the growth of the Borough is literally an amazing revelation of the expansion, and development which has taken place on the site of an historic Maori fishing village. In 1916, the census revealed 900 people living within the Borough. In 1921,, the figure was 1,,707. Five years later (1926) the population declined to 1,320, but in 1936, it had improved once more to the figure, 1,733. The latest statistics show that over thirty years the Borough of Whakatane has tripled its own population figures. The County area shows a 1 similar expansion in population. In 1916 the census revealed 2,954 as b§ing resident in the rural areas. In 1921, this figure improved by about 100. In 1926, the total (including Maoris) was 6,070, while in 1936, the official total w„as no less than 9.667. Thus it will be seen that the decis-. ion to make the immense undertaking of draining the Rangitaiki swamp a national matter has l3een amply repaid. The prospects of this rich dairying district, and progressive commercial centre are distinctly promising;. Apart from the splendid enterprise of the Paper Mills which brought no less than 300-residents to the town, there has been a steady founding of new industries and commercial ventures, building the town into an attractive modem centre which is fast compelling the interest of the larger cities. Favourably situated, and with much of its firstclass surrounding" country still to be 'brought in', Whakatane has a future which is distinctly rosy.