NELSON.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 691, 17 March 1852, Page 3

NELSON.

[From the Nelson Examiner, February 28.] We have the opportunity afforded us, by the publication of the yearly statistics, of showing the progress which the settlement is making : and if in some things less has been done than might have been desired, a review of the whole cannot but be satisfactory. The increase in our population for the year is small, being only 240 souls. This is the more to be regretted as a considerable and increasing demand for labour exists, a id can only be supplied by immigration. Means have been taken, it is true, to introduce a small number of people this year under the Government regulation. and the passage of about what will be equivalent to 150 adults has been secured by the friends of the parties resident in the settlement defraying a portion of the expenses. These, however, on their arrival, will instantly be absorbed; and unless land sales are re-

sumed, or the passage of emigrants provided for in some other way, we cannot expect to see any considerable accession to our labouring

population. The fact that the population of the town of, Nelson is 199 less than it was a year ago, and , that there are now 117 persons employed in agriculture more than there were at the end of 1850, shows that rural life is the most attractive. This is fortunate, for with our present pursuits, the work of production can only be carried on extensively in the country; and as the latter fills up, so will the town advance also. In a new colony, a crowded town and an empty country is the worst of signs. The continued diminution of the Native po-

pulation is striking, but we are not sufficiently informed to be able to state whether this is attributable to the “ dying out ” of the abori-

gines, which has always been found to follow the introduction of civilized men into savage

countries, or whether it has arisen from the removal of the Natives to other parts of the islands. We find that in 1850 the Native population diminished 153 souls, but last year it has diminished 301 souls—nearly one-fourth of the whole number in the settlement. If this, or indeed any other portion of the decrease of numbers be by mortality, the fact is surprising, for under no condition of previous existence does there seem to have been the same chances of longevity offered to the aborigines of this portion of these islands as they now enjoy. Better fed, better clad, better housed than their forefathers; their strong and turbulent passions subdued by religion and civilization—what more could be done for them ? The New Zealanders have not, like the natives of other countries, been driver! from their old,homes, but. whenever they have’so desired it, have been suffered to live in the midst of Europeans, and been protected by the same laws. A few years wiil determine whether this race is really incapable of undergoing that change of habits which civilization brings, or whether, under the most favourable circumstances, the axiom that the savage falls before the civilized race, is invariably true. The judicial returns are, as usual, satisfactory. Two criminal cases for the Supreme Court in the year are not many, although two more than in the year preceding; and though the lesser offences punished by the Resident Magistrate’s Court are numerous, it should be known that a great number of them were for breaches of the Merchant Seaman’s Act. An increase of upwards of 800 head of horned cattle, and 22,000 sheep, shows the ' progressive wealth of the settlement in live stock. As wool will probably be or.e of our chief exports for some years, the large number of sheep now in the settlement cannot fail, by their rapid increase, to greatly improve the trade of our port, and furnish us with the means of direct communication with Great Britain.

The agricultural returns of the year give a considerable increase both in the quantity of land cultivated and preparing for cultivation. The number of acres of wheat is more than a third greater than in the year previous; the cultivation of oats has increased in about the same proportion; while barley, which was supposed to be a deficient crop, only shows a falling off of 28 acres. As the harvest, notwithstanding the damage sustained by some of the early cut wheat by unfavourable weather, is believed to be amongst the best our farmers have ever experienced, the quantity of every kind of grain must necessarily be abundant. The increase of the land cropped is 1,279 acres; that which is cleared for cultivation 1,166, and fenced land 2,220 acres. In Native crops there is also a considerable increase. The returns of dwelling houses for the past and the preceding year are calculated to mislead anv one who compares the two together. It would seem by these that only thirteen new houses had been erected in the settlement during the year 1851. There must be some mistake, because building has been very brisk in the settlement in the past year; but the discrepancy may in part be accounted for by the fact that a great deal of labour has been devoted to the enlargement and improvement of old buildings, while in many cases the latter

have given place to entire new erections. The improved class of houses we now see putting up, both in the town and country, is a sure sign of improvement. The increase of revenue is from £3,506 to £6,111, which, after allowing for an increased expenditure, leaves a balance in our favour of £1’977. The imports for the year are considerable, being nearly double those of 1850, while the exports show an apparent decrease. The latter circumstance, which would be discouraging if true, may be explained by showing that all our wool, with the exception of a very small quan- . tity, was last year shipped from the Warnau, i and never appeared in our export list at all, while it considerably augmented that of Wel-

lington ; and even our return of coasting trade is affected in the same way, by none of the vessels which trade between Wellington and the Wairau river appearing in our shipping list. The quantity of wool exported from the Wairau this season has been 678 bales, of the value of upwards of £lO,OOO, and this does not include some of the late shorn.

Reviewing then the progress of the settlement for the past year, we repeat that we have abundant reason for congratulation. And when we look at the small mortality of twenty-six (seven of the deaths were accidental) out of a population of 4,287 souls, we have proof beyond all question that a country more favourable to human life does not exist in the world. We have shown on former occasions that 1 in 44 is the lowest mortality known in any country in Europe, while we see that during the past year in Nelson the mortality has been only 1 in 165.