POPULATION OF THE COLONY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4398, 24 April 1875, Page 2

POPULATION OF THE COLONY.

We have to thank the Registrar-General for courteously supplying us with the following information regarding the population of the colony, on the 31st December, 1874, in anticipation of the annual volume of statistics compiled by his department:— Auckland .. .. 73,362 Taranaki 0,373 Wellington 35,607 Hawke's Bay .. .. .. .. 11,122 Marlborough 6,533 Nelson 23,971 Westland 15,377 Canterbury 71,316 Otago 98.007 Chatham Islands 132 Total .. 341,860 Thus it will be seen that the European population increased by 42,350 souls during the last ten months of 1874—a rate of progress which no other colony in Australasia at all approaches. This is clearly attributable to the success of the Public Works and Immigration policy, and is a sufficient reply to all that dismal croakers have said about impending ruin. The fact is, that not only have these people been quietly absorbed into the population, but they have created increased demand for labor of all kinds, which is now higher paid and scarcer than it was four years ago, before the initiation of the colonising policy by Mr. Vogei. The foregoing figures demonstrate the fact that Canterbury is rapidly overhauling Auckland, and if we mistake not, it will stand second on the list of provinces, as regards population, at the close of 1875.