The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, APRIAL 17, 187.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 54, 17 April 1878, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, APRIAL 17, 187.

Eiio^ thp sjunamiary, of the statistics^^^forwarded fo us" l by tKe enunjeratoPi we^leairh- that; on the night of the 4tjb o£ JVla^fch last, the entire population of the County of Mnriawatu \vas 5736, of wh»m 3260 were hiales, and 2476 females * whjlle the rtn h>ber of dwellings ainouhted fo: ' I2#Bi of whi6h M> were said^o have, besn confess

we have no actual data for asserting that the return furnished is np^t a correct one, but we feel convinced the statements will be received with surprise by all, and considerable doubt by some. "We admit we have #ot so far heard of any neglect or omission on" the part of the subenumerator m this district, but. the grave complaints which have been made m "Wanganui and other counties, leads us to suppose that 'ours" has " not" been" an exceptional case, and that 'consequently the -statement is by no means a true index of the strength of the populai tion. Census returns, like RegistrarGeneral's birth and death rates, can only be taken as approximates, for it is well known that no matter what care, is taken on the part of the Government, or how keen the vigilance exercised on the part of deputy-registrars, fully one-sixth of those born each year are never entered m statistics, Charges have been made m the Wanganui paper which not only saddled the subenumerator with gross carelessness but wilful neglect, " and moreover, not only were cases mentioned where no forms where left, but an instance was adduced m support, where a paper had been left for filling m, but" had - not been called for until long after the returns were supposed to have quitted the sub-enumerator's hands. Even with the most painstaking, the difficulties of securing a true estimate are very great indeed ; and while giving the qfficer who performed the work m the Manawatu credit for^honestly carrying out the ! task 'lo the bestof his abilities, we think we can fairly claim that its i population ha> been considerably under-estimated. In compiling the the table the County is divided into ten djatriipts, and fialmerstoni being the only borough m it, its population and number af; dwellings are, of coursej ■ separate. First m order, then, dealing with, tlie town of Palmerston, we find that it has a total population, between the tovyn boundaries, of 874, 470 of whom are r males,^ arid 1404 femalesi, independently af five male Oelestials : and ooe Maori -wife ; aha* that it possesses ?19( dwellings, twenty of which are unoccupied The Riding of Manchester, which inoludes the of Feilciing and Halcoinbe, can boast of 979 males, and 7/86 i females, or a total of 1765 souls; while the numb>r of dwellings were ,397, 51 teing uninhabited. The Riding of Awahou, which includes Foxtoh-and ; Ajwahou; Has a njppulation^ of^B24* 462 males, 1 arid 372 females, of which' Foxton contributes 313 mates, and 267;: females ; the balanced! 149 males, and 95 females being r. accredited to Awabou. In addition to t^at^ however, there is m the Foxtpn district 4 haif-caste T males,^ f aud L 3 half -cast^ females* not ■'livitfg r '^th"f'the\'N"a;ti^eßJ' 2 Maori wives; and one male Qniiiaman. In the Awabou portion there ai*e 3 , half-caste males and 2 females, beside 2 Maori wives. Next comes Taonui withi-its^T^S, 433 being males, and 339 -females, housed m 17 dwellings, threa others tfeihg uninhabited. It also possesses 3 half-caste males, and ' 1 feraapie not, living with the Natives, beside 2 Maori wives, Oroua numbers 607,, of ■ whom; 349 are of the male, and 258 of the female sex, owning 130 houses; but while 6 are s6t down- as unoccupied, three new ones are m course of construction, Kawakawa exceeds Oroua by nearly half a hundred, having 407 males, aSd 249 females, or^a total of j and it also outnumbers its dwellings , having ; 1^ buildings, with two un ? occupied. It also ha»s one male and female half -caste living away from the Natives, PorawHenui comes next on the list: with Atotal 0^192, 122 males, and 70 femalesi, but it possesses, no less than 12 male, and 6 female half -castes, not living with the Natives, the total number of its dwellings being 43. Kiwitea, or ■ what is known " a\s the" Kiwitea Block, is. but y©t -m its;infancy,^there [being biit fourteen houses m the district, housing a population of 38 males* and £ females. Tha greatest disparity iri ! the sexes is e^videirit m Kiwitea, where the males are nearly five to one, but of course that is [easily aqcouritedvf or, hy the faot.that it but sparsely settledl.i Looking at the number af dwellings to the population m : district, it -will be found tha^ on aii> average four persons are flowed to each and although m some districts it is a fraction above, m no one doed it reach five. From the retiirnswe also glea,n>cthait the total dumber of acres, under crop m th§. County of Manawatu .during the last year to third of March, 1878, were no less than 61,296. Although the foregoing statistics, especially -that portion relating to Palmersion Borough, does not show the population of the town to be as numerous as we believed, and still believe it to be, the progress .of, the County has, been r stich a'stto. leave no rrioim tor grumbling, for ; perhaps m none other i n .the. .Qolpny -has there: ;been such rapid^strides,.- '. both^ m populatibri and the cultivation of the land, Jjetweejti census and census. Four years since where were the. towns of Sanson, I^eilding, and Haloombe, which, with the surrounding district, opntribute exactiy a third of th'e population of the entire^ C/Ounty ? Unfortunately we have no statistics l-io^ hand wherewith to draw a comparison between then and noWj but

we are certain we are considerably within the mark m saying that during that time it has increased its residents; four-fold. "Wonderful, however, as has been its progress m the past, v we have no hesitation m asserting that when next the services of the enumerator are called into requisition, it) will be found that the residents of ! ;.j Manawatu will be numbered by tens of thousands.