THE MAORI POPULATION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3164, 16 August 1917, Page 5

THE MAORI POPULATION

CENSUS RETURNS. Tho total Maori population, according So tho census taken in October last, was 5t9,77(i. A paper laid on tho table of the lUouiio of .Representatives yesterday afternoon by the Nativo Minister stated that since 1301 the figflres showed au increase until the last census, when a decrease of GB, as compared with 1911, is shown. How far the figures on this occasion are affected by enlistments it is •difficult to say accurately, but tliey must foe affected to some extent. The enumernlors for the North Island, particularly iiii theTaranakiandWaikato districts, report that somo difficulty was experienced in obtaining information owing to the i'ear on the part of the Natives that the statistics were being obtained for ihe purpose of recruiting. The enumerators generally report that with tho exception of the smallpox epidemic in 1913 and some cases of typhoid, rllie keallh of tho Natives lias been generally good, and that in most districts Mere hns been continued improvement in ••the habits of life and industry if the especially in districts whero land 3s being opened up and settlement advancing, giving greater opportunities of employment, etc. The census for the South Island was taken with tho Eurojiean census on this occasion, as the Natives and half-castes there are regarded 'as living as Europeans.