New Zealand Times. MONDAY, JUNE 7, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4435, 7 June 1875, Page 4

New Zealand Times. MONDAY, JUNE 7, 1875.

The social aspects of the last New Zealand. census are extremely interesting. Parts V. and YL, which have been issued from the Government Printing Office, contain a fund of “entertaining knowledge ” for those who study their contents. At all events, the fault is not the Registrar-General’s if the information is not "full enough. We shall not, however, attempt to analyse all the elaborate returns of the RegistrarGeneral, contenting ourselves upon this occasion with noting a few of the more salient points. For the purpose of contrast, we shall select the census periods of 1867, 1871, and 1874. Under the caption, “ con- “ jugal condition of the people,” we find that the percentage of married and single persons to the population, excluding Chinese and Maoris, was as under ; Married. Single. December, 1807 .. 30 76 .. 69*24 February, 1871.. .. 30*69 .. 69*31 March, 1874 .. .. 30*53 .. 69*47 The relative proportion, therefore, during the last three census periods, of married and single, to the total population of the colony, varied but slightly. Table 2, of “unmarried, married, and “ widowed,” appears to be an unnecessary elaboration of the table we have quoted from. It may be as well to have it, however, although for our own part we do not quite see its utility. The like remark applies to the remainder of part V. The proportion of unmarried persons is greatest, as might be expected, on the goldfields. Coming to the “ occupations of the “ people,” in part YL, the details, although equally elaborate, are more interesting. The occupations are arranged in seven classes. Thus, on March Ist, 1,874, we have these results : 1. Professional 6,460 11. Domestic .. .. 184,903 Til, Commercial 13,297 IV, Agricultural 34,300 V. Industrial .. 46,237 VI. Indefinite and non-productive 12,206 VII. Occupation not stated .. .. 1,911 Now we should very much like to know who and what manner of colonists compose classes VI. and VII. “ Indefinite “ and non-productive,” and “ occupation “not stated,” which is exceedingly indefinite and may be non-productive also. We have a theory regarding the non-producing classes which may not bo generally accepted. It is this : we class the bulk of the “public servants” among non-producers. They toil pot, neither do they spin ; but are maintained by the people to do the people’s work. They earn their money, doubtless, but as we understand the term ‘ ‘ non-pro- “ ducers,” they clearly fall within that description. We say this, however, without meaning any offence to a highly respectable body of men. The tables before us throw some light upon the subject. We find tho apparent proportion of drones to the working bees to be : Males. Females. Class VI 11,485 .. 721 Class VII 1,748 .. 163 The proportional per centage of class VI. is, 6'787 males and '562 females. Tho greater number of" the “indefinite and “non-productive” class is to be found “ outside cities and towns,” and a comparatively insignificant number on goldfields. On the goldfields of the colony, when the census was taken, there ware 1344 persons returned under the two non-productive heads, of whom 74 Were females. This says a great deal for general industrial pursuits on the, goldfields. However, it is only fair to state that in class VI., in a subsequent classification, there are 9632 laborers who, we submit, ought to have appeared among the industrial classes. Pursuing this branch of our inquiry a little further, wo find, table IV., that 2470 persona were “engaged in the “ General or local Government, or the “ defence or protection of the country ; being 'B3O per cent, of the European population. Qf these seventeen are females; and here, parenthetically, we may remark that a great deal more might be done in the way of employing female labor in the Government departments, more especially in the Telegraph and Post-office. To be sure, we are altering the classification by the Registrar-General, who places the Government and provincial servants first in the sub-sections of class 1., that is, the “ professional class,” and immediately before “ persons engaged in “ the learned professions, or in literature, “ art, science, (with their immediate ‘ ‘ subordinates).” It may be very flattering to the 2470 persons, male and female, who ore “ engaged in the General or “local Government, or the defence or_ “ protection of the country,” to take pve-* cedence of members of the learned professions, but with all respect to tho Registrar-General, we submit that our classification is the more correct one. The public officials are returned under the following heads : General Government officers .. • • 1457 Local Government officers .. ... 11° Defence .. ©97 We have a total of “ 2230 persons sup- “ ported by the community and of no “specified occupation.” This is the number of unfortunates who were inmates of the benevolent and charitable institutions of'the colony and in gaol. Of these 1601 aro males and 629 females. The number is not large certainly, but it ip sufficient to. tax the benevolence of the population to tho utmost. Our space does not admit of pursuing this subject further in our present^issue. We may add, however, that the criminal

classes numbered 559 when the census was taken on March Ist, 1874, and of these 452 were males. Singularly enough, the Registrar-General places policemen and turnkeys in the first order of professional men, ever so many degrees in advance of members of Local Councils, justices of the peace, officers of the army, navy, militia, and volunteers, who take rank in the second sub-section, and as a matter of course quite out of range beyond the members of the learned professions, who are marshalled, according to a capricious fancy, in “ Okdek. 11. This is doubtless one result of overminuteness in detail ; but it is a great blemish on the very useful work the Registrar-General and his staff have done.