The Evening Star MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3679, 7 December 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1874.

The Statistics of New Zealand for 1873 are now completed, and we have received from the Registrar-General a copy of the volume, which also contains abstracts of the agricultural statistics for 1874. In many respects improvements have been made in the arrangement of the matter, and additional information is given that renders this year’s volume much more valuable than former issues. It is divided into two parts. The first, called the ‘‘Blue Book,” includes a list of Governors from the foundation of the Colony, the parliaments and ministries since the adoption of Responsible Government, lists of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives in 1873, and the Foreign Consuls in Now Zealand. The second part is devoted to more purely statistical matter, and contains much that is of general interest, because of the means it aflords of tracing the general development. of the Colony from its earliest days. Passing over comparative statements, which we have not yet had time to examine, we will briefly extract a few of the results at which the Registrar arrives. On the 31st December of last year the total population of the Colony, exclusive of aboriginal Natives, was computed to he 295,040, of whom 170,400 were male, and 125,540 female. This represented a net increase on the previous year of 16,386, of whom 8,002 were male, and 8,384 female. The gross increase was 24,794, This was made up by the arrival of 13,572 immigrants, and 11,222 births ; but from this number the deaths, numbering 3,047, and emigration 4,701 together 8,408 —must be deducted. The proportion which the populations of each Province bear to each other may be represented thus : —Auckland, 68.4 ; Taranaki, 4.8; Wellington, 28.3 ; Hawke’s Bay, 7.5 ; Nelson, 24 ; Marlborough, 5.0; Canterbury, 53.4; Westland, 15.3; Otago, 80.4 ; Chatham Islands, .139, Reading the first figures as thousands and the decimals as hundreds will give a sufficiently accurate estimate of the population of each Province. The Registrar estimates the natural increase of population by births over deaths at 20.75 per day. He compares this with the rate of increase in England, the population of which, according to the English Re-gistrar-General, is 22,457,300, and the daily increase 700. The relative proportion between the two countries is most readily understood when we say that for every one hundred of increase in England it amounts to two hundred and thirteen and nearly one-third in New Zealand. Until the census returns are completed, the reason for this difference cannot he fairly estimated, but one common misapprehension may be set at rest. It is very generally supposed that in the Colonies a larger proportion of infants under one year old die than at Horn 3. This, however, is a mistake. In England in 1870 the births were 792,787, of which number 126,038, or 15.97—nearly 16— in 100 died before being one year old. } lu 1873, in New Zealand, 11,222 were '

born, and 1,213 died before reaching the age of one year. That represents 10-81 per cent.—somewhat less than 11 in 100. In Victoria, the returns for 1873 show somewhat over 11 in 100, and, on an average of the ten years from 1804 to 1873, rather more than 12. It appears, therefore, that both Victoria and New Zealand are more favorable to life than Great Britain. Of the 13,572 immigrants who arrived in New Zealand in 1873, the United Kingdom supplied us with 8,922, the Australian Colonies with 3,709, other British ports 199, and foreign ports Avith 682. Judging by the returns contained in this table, which will be found on page 7 of the second part, very few would have found their way hither from Home had not the immigration scheme been in operation, for of the 9,000 who came from Great Britain only 108 were unassisted immigrants, 7,318 coming under the head of assisted, and 1,436 nominated. By far the largest number of immigrants landed in Dunedin, the actual numbers being, at the four principal ports— Dunedin, 4,529 ; Lyttelton, 2,092 ; Auckland, 2,980 ; Wellington, 2,001. No doubt the large return for Dunedin arises from its intercolonial trade, as the distribution of the assisted immigrants was much more equal, Auckland having received 1,347; Wellington, 1,848; Canterbury, 2,182, and Otago 2,702. The nationalities of the assisted immigrants are thus stated; English and Welsh, 1,300 Irish, 1,531 Scotch, 142 Gennans, 657 Scandinavians, and 55 French and others. Judging by the vital statistics, the mortality of New Zealand bears very favorable comparison with England. In New Zealand, in 1873, the number of illegitimate births registered was 159, or 1.410 per cent, of the whole number, while in England, in 1870, the rate was 5.6 per cent., and in the six years from 1803 to 1808 it rose as high as 0.2 per cent. The Province of Hawke’s Bay stands most favorably in thisrespectin the New Zealand statistics, being only .91 per cent —not one in a hundred ; while Marlborough is at the head of the black list, the register being 4.824 per cent, —nearly five in one hundred. Next comes Westland, LB9O ; then Canterbury, 1.734 ; Taranaki, 1.554 ; Otago, 1.429 ; Nelson, 1.342 ; Wellington, 1.036 ; Auckland, ,90. We do not think that signatures to marriage registers are decisive proof of the absence of possession of rudimentary education ; but assuming them as a test, of 2,270 bridegrooms in 1873, sixty-seven signed the registers by marks. It may fairly be presumed they could not write, but we are nob quite so sure that the 179 brides who affixed marks instead of writing their names were all equally untaught. Whether or no, however, they have chosen to allow themselves to be considered so. The proportion of persons thus presumably ignorant of rudimentary education is however much larger at Home ; for while here three men in one hundred and about eight women affixed marks to their registers instead of signatures, nineteen men and twenty-seven women in one hundred do so at Home. It will be seen, however, that proportionately to their husbands the women of New Zealand are the less educated than in England. In this country the figures stand as 2.94 per cent, men unable to write, to 7.80 women—that is, there are not quite three times more ignorant wives than ignorant husbands. At Home, the figures are J 9.8 per cent, men to 27.3 per cent, of women, or not quite onehalf more. The ladies of New Zealand must see to this.