The Evening Star TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1872.
AMONGST the statistical papers laid before the General Assembly this session by the .Registrar-General, is one showing the agricultural progress of the Colony. With a view to utilising the returns, these tables were published in separate portions in the A m Zealand Gazette, with the professed idea that by so doing publicity would be given to them in the different Provinces. We can hardly suppose that any but a Government olHcial would imagine that this was the most likely way to spread information ; for, excepting the Press of tire Colony drags such information from its hiding-place in the Gazette, but little will the public know that it is to be found there. Full as this return appears to be, it does not give the whole truth, for the RegistrarGeneral tells us that “ holdings occupied by Aboriginal Natives, holdings of less than one acre in extent, and and gardens attached to residences,” are not included in it. There would, no doubt, have been a difficulty in estimating the nature of crops grown in gardens and their yield, but it must be evident that they form a very important addition to the produce of the soil. In any abstract given for the purpose of shewing the progress of settlement in the Colony, merely to give the returns of last year would be of little use. Comparison between two periods at least is necessary ; and as 1871 and 1872 present the most features in common, it would have been the best to have given the statistics of those two years. Rut this is rendered useless by the incomplete returns of 1871, and a truer estimate of progress can be arrived at by comparing 1870 with 1872. In 1870, taking the population of Auckland as given by the Census return of last year, the population was 62,335. The number of holdings in 1870 was 3,170 ; in 1872 they had increased to 3,767. The laud broken up in 1870, but not under crop, was 12,090 acres; while in 1872 it was 10,419 acres. Under grain crops, there were 3,079 acres in 1870, and 4,857 acres in 1872. For hay, 4,405 acres in 1870, and 5,883 acres in 1872. Potatoes, 3,796 acres in 1870, and 3,836 acres in 1872. Of land sown with grasses, itc., there were 155,086 acres in 1870, and 206,501 acres in 1872. In 1870 wheat was grown on 1,544 acres, oats, 2,964, In 1872, wheat, 2,450 acres ; oats, for green food, hay, and grain, 5,748. The Province of Taranaki contains 4,480 people. In 1870 the holdings ■were 489 in 1872, 414. In 1870 there were 810 acres broken up, but not under crop ; and, in 1872, 1,536 acres. Under grain crops, there were 1,411 acres in 1870 ; and 1,650 in 1872 ; besides 639 acres planted with potatoes in 1870, and 211 with other crops, against 447 acres of potatoes ami 281 of other crops in 1872. The land sown with grasses is rather less than in 1870. Taranaki seems retrograding. The population of Wellington is 24,001. In 1870, the number of holdings was 1,356 ; in 1872 it was 1,485. The area broken up but not under crop was in 1870, 2,647 acres; and .3,069 in 1872. Under grain crops, in 1870, there wore 6,002 acres; in 1872, only 5,T39 acres. Of laud in all crops, or sown with grasses, in 1870, there were 186,922 acres ; in 1872, 203,171 acres. llawkes Ray contains 0,059 people. In 1870, the land broken up and not under crop was 4,204 acres; in 1872, only 2,446. In 1870, the acreage under grain was 2,283 ; while in 1872 it was but 1,528. As a set off against this decrease, the total acreage under crops and grass in 1870 was 56,151 acres, and 74,770 in 1872. Nelson shows little variation. The population is 22,501. The number of holdings in 1870 was 1,151, and 1,158 in 1872. Land broken up, but not under crop, 6,957 acres in 1870, and 4,080 in 1872. Land under grass and all crops, 52,291 acres in 1870, and 55,158 acres in 1872. In Marlborough with a population of 5,235,
there were 345 holdings in 18/0, and 343 in 1872. The acreage under all crops, grasses, including land broken up but not cropped was 25, / 93 in 1870, and 30,236 in 1872. The population of Canterbury is 46,801. J-ho holdings numbered 3,244- in 18/0, and 3,510 in 1872. The land broken up but not under crop in 1870 was 31,791 acies, against 38,357 in 1872. Land sown with wheat in 1870 was 52,4-25 acres, and 62,842 in 1872. With oats for grain, 393)52 acres in 1870, and 58,106 in 1872. The total area in sown grass and crops of all sorts was 219,318 acres in 1870, and 320,627 in 1872. The County of Westland, with a population of 15,357, need not be its agricultural industry is at present of little moment. The population of Otago and Southland was 69,191. The number of holdings was 3,237 in 1870, and 3 663 in 1872. The area broken up, but not under crop, was 36,619 acres in 1870, and 31,366 in 1872. acreage under wheat was 21,885 in 1870, a and 33,660 in 1872 ;in oats for grain, 50,706 in 1870, and 71,340 acres iu 187 2. The total acreage under all crops and sown grasses was 215,297 in 1870, and 308,883 in 1872. It thus appears that the chief has been made by the two large i ievinces of the Middle Island, and that, so far as agriculture is concerned, but very little advance has been made in the Noith. Probably the increased price of wool has led ‘to more attention to pastoral pursuits. On the whole, the Colony may be said to have made consideiable advancement. The total Luropean population was 256,260. The area of land broken up but not under crop in 1870 was 96,971 acres, and 96,411 m 1872. The acreage sown with wheat in 1870 was 86,163 acres, and 108,720 in 1872; with oats for grain 99,4/0 acres in 1870, and 139,185 in 1872. In permanent artificial grasses, 619,521 acres in 1870, and 823,216 in 1872 , planted with potatoes, 12,806 acres in 1870, and 11,933 acres in 1872. The total acreage of land broken up and sown with all crops was 997,4/7 acies iu 1870, and 1,226,222 in 1872.
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Evening Star, Issue 2971, 27 August 1872, Page 2
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1,062The Evening Star TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1872. Evening Star, Issue 2971, 27 August 1872, Page 2
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