WELLINGTON'S FUTURE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 122, 9 February 1918, Page 8

WELLINGTON'S FUTURE

AND THE WATER SUPPLY SOME INTERESTING FIGURES In 1801 the population of Wellington and the surrounding boroughs {excluding I'etoue and the Hutt \ r illey) was 3-1,832. The census of 1910 gave the population of the same territory as 61,825, .-in increase in a quarter or a century of approximately 115 per cent. What 'will tho growth of the place be in the next 2o years? Thai; is a question which at present js giving the city engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton; i'oor for thought in connection with the preparation of a comprehensive report on the water supply that is likely to lie needed by a, much larger Welluigton than exists at present. thanks to the courtesy of the Government Statistician w«r. Malcolm I'raser) figures have been prepared by wbicii some idea may be gained as to the manner in which the increase has taken place, of which localities have gone ahead 'quicker than others (w ■point; of population), and which have shown greater deliberation m adding to their resident population taking the full 25 years' stretch (from 189 to ISJI6), tho return shows that in lbJl tho population of the then city was 32 327, whilst the census of 1916 gavo the. papulation as 73,305, considerably over 300 per cent, increase. IHachievement) is hardly likely to bo repeated in the quarter of a century to come, hut the growth must be great. It is the city engineer's task to figure out a water.supply scheme not only to cover the city and suburban area, bitf the population they aro likely to carry, based on the growth o the past-say, for a cits' with a population of at the least 200,000, and he is at present engaged on such a task. • To return to Mr.- Fraser's figures, it is interesting to note how the population of the suburban areas have increased in the twenty-five- yeaTs under review. These are given l^ 0 " 0^ £T :==■ $' S Onslow and Johnsonville 1,623 3,380 Eastbourne ■ 3 ? . l > m Taking the percentages of increase of population in five-yearly periods, tho figures for Wellington and suburbs are as follow:— m Period ending 1896 10.02 Period ending J9OB 27.Jl Period ending 1906 9.23 Period ending 1911 "-88 Period ending 1916 - 20.10 The above table shows that the greatest ratio of growth was shown hi tho "boom" period between 1896 and 1901, but next to that the most rapid increase is for the last'recorded period (between 1911 and 1916). Anyone who has noted the signs of the times lately will probably concludo that the present ratio of increase (since the census of 1916), wilt show a rate of increase well up to the one last noted. Going farther afield-to the Hutt Valley—the increase- in the growth of population has been even greater than that of Wellington/ In, 1891 the total population of the valley (Petone, Lower Hutt, and Upper Hutt) was 5286. This had increased by 1916 to 16,423. The detailed figures are as Wlow:— 1891. is Lb. Pfitone • 2,178 7,115 Lower Hutt 1,829 4,893 Beyond Lower Hutt... 1,"9 4,415 There again it is shown that the period which showed the mow striking ratio of increase was that between-1896 and 1901, when the population of the valley shot up by 50.17 per cent.