TOWN AND COUNTRY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10298, 5 June 1919, Page 4

TOWN AND COUNTRY

In New Zealand of late many expressions of regret have been heard because it is believed that people are migrating from the country to the towns. .In support of this belief, official figures have beiwi quoted, and it lias been accepted by many that these figures entirely bear out the. contention that people are leaving -the country and going to the towns. Without at the moment either opposing or agreeing with the contention, it seems worth while pointing out that the official figures ar,c! ,not by . any Jinal, and as the <matter is one of importance, more valuable sets of figures •should be obtained if possible and practicable. Speaking at the Townplanning Conference, the Minister for Internal Affairs stated that in 1881 our rural population was 291,238 and the borough population 194,981, .or the rural population was 59.44 per cent, .and tSie borough population 39.80 per cent, of the ri *Tlie increase.. t .of 'the borough'[population, lie saidV.slowiy grew, until the census of 1911 showed it to be 505,598 (50.14 per cent.). Tho same' census gave the rural population as 496,779 (49.26 per cent.). The 1916 figures were:—Borough, 585,306 (53.24 per cent.); rural, 501,259 (45.59 percent.). Leaving tho figures just, as they stand there, the present official record might have passed as final, but later in his speech the Minister said: "In 1891 there, were ,87. boroughs in New .Zealand, vim; 1919 there were 118, but! as a large number of mergings and amalgamations had taken place in the meantime, the number of new boroughs is much greater than is shown by the figures." It seems, therefore, that a much greater area 0 f land is now branded "borough" and correspondingly less is known as "rural." If tho percentage of rural land has decreased, that may be tho explanation of the decrease in the percentago of rural population. However, the point is that the figures are not conclusive, and that because of the importance of tho matter on which thev bear, conclusive figures should be obtained. As things are, it may be that in tho older statistics small knots of population which were really urban were returned as rural, and "which, despite the fact that I thev have become boroughs in the interval between the statistical dates, are still returned as rural. In that case, the set townward of the rural population would bo lees than the figure's indicate. The point is worth examination with a. view to fuller details in the statistical returns.