TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5377, 21 June 1878, Page 2

TOPICS OF THE MONTH.

Last session an Act was passed to make provision for the apportionment of education reserves for the purposes of primary and secondary education, and for their control and management. 1 The Act provides that onetourth part of all education reserves which have heretofore been made in and tor any province or provincial district, and vested in any Education Board or other body, and of all other such reserves heretofore made in and for any province or provincial district, but which have not been granted to or vested in the Supreintendent of any province under the Public Reserves Act, 1854, or otherwise granted to or vested in any such Board or other body, shall he sot apart specially as an endowment. for secondary education within the provincial district itor which such reserves and lands were originally made and set apart, and the remainder of such reserves and lands shall be set apart specially as an endowment for primary education within such district. The chairmen of the several Education Boards and the Commissioners of Crown Lands for the several provincial districts are appointed arbitrators for the apportionment of these reserves, and power isgivenfor the appointment of an umpire. It is provided that every award shall be made on or before the 31st March, or at such late period as the Governor may determine, and an abstract of the division and apportionment made is to be gazetted. The award is to be final. Reserves for primary and secondary education are to vest in school commissioners, who have power to lease lands. The Governor may reserve waste lands for school sites, which are to be vested in the Education Boads, who may, with the consent of the Minister, sell or exchange them. The Governor may also reserve waste lands as endowments for primary and secondary education, and in order to provide an endowment for primary education in the Worth Island, at least five per cent, of tho waste lands in each district which were open for sale on the Ist January, 1878, are set apart for that purpose. The revenue derived by the school commissioners from the reserves set apart for primary education are to be handed over to the Education Boards of the provincial districts in proportion to the population in each education district os determined from time to timo by the census. The revenues derived from tho reserves set apart for secondary education are to be appropriated by the

commissioners for the exclusive advancement of secondary education in the several educational districts wholly dr partially included in the provincial districts, in proportion to the population in each education district, or part thereof; to be determined in the same manner. But no school is to be entitled to any grant unless it be a public school under the Education Act of 1877, or established or governed under any Act of the Assembly, or under the Canterbury College. A supplement to the Gazette of Thursday, June 6, published on Wednesday, June 12, contains theapportionment of reserves for educational purposes in accordance with the provisions of the Act. A long list of lands set apart in the several provincial districts is given. The amount varies considerably in the several districts—from 573 acres for primary education, and 2XO acres for secondary education, in tho Patea District, to hundreds of thousands of acres set apart in Otago. Xu the Wellington District 10,374 acres are set apart for primary education, and 3014 acres for secondary education. The question is one of great importance, and we may have to recur to it again at a future time.

In another column will be found a table giving the numbers of males and females in each electoral district, and also of members returned for the several electorates. These figures possess considerable interest, as the question of the franchise is now agitating the public mind; and although the number of adult males in the colony has not yet been ascertained in the census office, an approximation based upon the census of 1874 can be taken as sufficiently correct for general purposes. The males of the colony on the 31st of last March, exclusive of Maoris, may be set down at 231,000, and it is fair to estimate that of these 130,600 were over 21 years of age. In 1874 there were 168,000 males, of whom 95,000 were adults. It will be seen that the males in a district do not bear anything like a regular proportion to the representatives returned to Parliament.' Collingwood has the smallest number of males, 846, and Cheviot the total smallest population, 1354. Nelson, of those constituencies for which two members are returned, has the fewest males, 3190, and Wellington City the most, 9854. Christchurch City, with three members, has the largest population, 24,976. In several districts the females exceed the males, viz., in Parnell, Newton, Onehunga, New Plymouth Town, and Nelson City. In Nelson suburbs there are seven more males than females, and in Koslyn eleven more. Cheviot has only 456 females resident in it.

We call attention to the letter of oiir Waikato correspondent, in which is given an account of occurrences at the recent meetings of the Premier and the Native Minister with Tawhiao and his people at Hikuraugi, and with Eewi, chief of the Maniapotos at Puniu. This account differs widely from the reports given in the Auckland newspapers, which are understood to be official, and to be published with the authority of the Government. The difference is apparently altogether on the side of truthfulness. There are touches in the account of tho interview with Kewi which are charmingly characteristic, and bring us at once into the presence. The natives themselves, as we have seen, have become alarmed at the reports the newspapers have given of the proceedings at these meetings, and the inveracity of Ministers, by reviving the old distrust, may postpone although it cannot prevent that final reconciliation on honorable terms with the King’s party to which, as we have said, the policy of the last ten years has been steadily leading..

The movement to establish hospitals in country districts is deserving of all the encouragement and support which can be given to it. By this means many a bushman, overtaken by accident or'disease, may obtain medical aid and nursing which would otherwise not be within his reach, and the hospitals at the chief centres of population, which are usually overcrowded, would be greatly relieved. It is satisfactory to learn that at Masterton tbs project of starting such an institution in that township is progressing favorably. From the Standard of Saturday, May 25, we learn that a public meeting was held there on the previous Thursday for the purpose of appointing a Committee of Management and to receive the report of the Provisional Committee, appointed to . take steps to open subscription lists, secure a site, get plans, specifications, &c., of a suitable building, and to transact other preliminary work in connection with the object in view. The report stated that the public had come forward in the most liberal manner, money and land being given to the extent of £424, and in addition to this sum, a cheque for £5 was presented by Mr J. 0. Ferguson just before the meeting, with the promise of another £5 when the building was in course of erreotion. The Chairman of the Provisional Committee, (Mr. It. G-. Williams) said he could not refrain from passing an enconium upon the lady, by whose earnest endeavours the funds for the hospital had reached such a sura,he alluded to Miss Sutherland (great cheers) ; this lady had first started the idea, her kind heart being grieved at the idea of persons Buffering from severe injuries having to be conveyed such a great distance before getting relief ; the greater part of the money had been collected by this lady, and the feelings of the district had been aroused by her energetic earnestness. Arrangements have been made by which the proposed hospital is to be made a county one, to be subsidised by the Wairarapa East County Council, and the property to be vested in trustees. The committee have sold an acre of land on the terrace for the sum of £l5O, and have purchased nearly 3 acres from Mr J. V. Smith for the same amount, on which later site it is proposed to erect the hospital, provided a good supply of water can be obtained. The tender of Messrs. Blinkhom and Peacock has been accepted, at £5lO, for the supply of the material and erection of the building. The following gentlemen were appointed to serve on the “Masterton Borough Hospital committe:—The Chairman Wairarapa East County Council, ex officio; the Chairman Masterton Highway Board, ex officio; the Chairman Taratahi-Oarterton Highway Board, cx officio ; the Mayor of Masterton, cx officio ; and Messrs. Pharazyn, H. E. Bunny, J. 0. Yorke, Perry, Vile, Caselberg, lorns, and Girdlestoue. A vote of thanks to the chairman and committee, and a like compliment to. Miss Sutherland for the part she had taken in the matter, terminated the proceedings. Here wo have an example of what may be done by a few individuals—chiefly, indeed, by one, a lady—in starting and fairly setting afloat an undertaking which will be of great benefit to the Wairarapa District. It is to be hoped that the good example will be followed in other localities where hospitals are required, and there must be many which come under this category. It is well to bear in mind, also, that as the settlement of the outlying parts of th* colony progresses the want of county hospitals is every day becoming more pressing. ,

The result of the collection of agricultural statistics made in February last for the following counties are published in a Gazette issued on May 30th :—Mongonuia, Bay of Islands, Hoktanga, Hobson, Whangarei, Rodney, Waitemata, Eden, Manukau, Coromandel, Thames, and Flako. la these counties the returns give a total of 2958 freehold holdings of over an acre in extent, 490 rented, 179 part freehold and part rented, bringing the total number of holdings up to 3827. The extent of land broken up, hut not under crop, was 18,128 acres, of which 3021 were in wheat, the estimated gross produce in bushels of which is set down at 74,591; in oats for green food or hay 30,323 acres, aad for grain 1503 acres, the estimated gross produce being calculated at 27,838 bushels; in barley 137 acres, estimated produce 3004 bushels ; in potatoes 3047 acres, the estimated produce being 15,880 tons; in other crops 2659 acres. _ The total number of acres under crop, exclusive of land under grasses, is set down at 13,390 acres; and in sown grasses the following returns ate given :—ln hay 6635 acres, estimated produce in tons, 7402. In grasses, after having been broken up (including such as in hay), 89,254 acres. Grass sown, and not previously ploughed (including such as in hay), 123,243 acres. The quantity of last year’s crop remaining on hand, when the returns were filled up, was 9365 bushels wheat, 6783 bushels oats, and 627 bushels barley. In the counties of Taranaki; Patea, Wanganui, Kangitikei, Manawatu, Hutt, and Wairarapa East and West. .The total number of freehold holdings over an acre in extent are 2040, and rented 761. The number of holdings partly freehold and partly rented is set down at 359, making a total of 3160. The extent of land broken up, but not under crop, is 30,518 acres, of which 7961 acres are iu wheat, the gross estimated produce of which is 214,749 bushels, and 761 acres in oats ; tor food or green hay and for grain, 7222 acres, the estimated produce of which is set down at 205,117 bushels ; barley, 459 acres are sown for grain only, the estimated gross produce iu bushels being 12,157 ; in potatoes, 1843 acres, the estimated gross produce iu tons being 9308; in other crops, 641 acres ; the total number of acres under crop, exclusive of land under grasses, being 18,837 acres ; and in sown grasses 7788 in hay, of which the gross produce is estimated

at 11,246 tons ; in grasses, after having been broken up (including such as iu hay), 08,014 acres ; and grass sown lands not previously ploughed (including such as in bay), 555,336 acres. The quantity of last year’s crop remaining on hand when the returns were filled in is set down at 4247 bushels wheat, 8747 bushels oats, and 250 bushels barley. The census returns have been so far completed as to enable the Registrar-General to furnish the following information. The figures are of course subject to revision, but are not likely to be materially altered; — POPULATION EXCLUSIVE OF MAORIS. Males 230,89 S Females 183,273 Total 414,171 Chatham Islands— Males 100 Females . .. 72 Total 414,343 Included in the above are 4302 Chinese, of whom a very small number, probably not half a dozen, are females. The censu? taken in March, 1874, gave the following results : Males 170,981 Females .. .. 128,533 Total, exclusive of Maoris .. 290,514 4314 Chinese males and 2 females are included in the above. Tor February 1873, the figures were : Males 150,350 Females .. .. 106,037 Total, exclusive of Maoris .. .. 250,393 The increase has, in round numbers, been from 250.000 in 1871 to 300,000 in 1874 and to 415.000 in 1878, the increase in the last four years being over 25 per cent. The above figures show the extraordinary rapidity with which the population has been added to; but the increase in Wellington, where the population doubled in four years, is far larger than the rate for the whole of New Zealand, and prob-ably-it is not approached by any other of the chief cities in the colony.