Local.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 175, 24 June 1859, Page 2

Local.

Our Province.—A Gazette lately, published gives some carefully compiled statistics of the population, &c, ofthe New Zealand provinces, amongst which we find the following particulars of our own. At the end of last year, Nelson had a population of 2701 in the town. Of these, 593 were under 6 years of age ; 421 between 6 and 12 years ; 322 between 12 and 18 ; 996 between 18 and 40; 330 between 40 and 60; and 39 persons of 60 years and upwards. The sexes are about equal in numbers, except in the last mentioned item ; here the males have a maiked advantage, being 23 to 16 females, and in the other parts of "the province 54 to 33. The aggregate shews, however, the very respectable number of 126 persons of 60 years and upwards out of a total population of 927*2. The number of houses in the town amount to 550, of which 434 are of wood ; in other parts of the province they amount to 1206, making altogether 1756. This gives more than 5 persons to every house; but it must he remembered, that out of this aggregate population of 9272, more than one third is composed of children under 12 years; and if we include those up to 18 years of age, we find 4509, or that nearly half of our whole population are under 18 years. Truly, we are a young colony. The census for Auckland gives 18,177 ; New Plymouth, 2650; Wellington, 11,728; Hawke's Bay, 1514; Canterbury, 8967; Otago, 6944; Stewart'?*. Island, 51; and military, 1896. We may here remark that in the Wellington province there is a considerable difference in the number of bouses, theirs averaging one house for a -little more than four persons, while with us, as before stated, it is more than five.

The Native Population.—We are indebted to tbe courtesy of the Colonial Secretary at Auckland, for the receipt of a copy, of a work entitled " Observations on the state of tbe Aboriginal Inhabitants of New Zealand," written by F. D. Fenton, Esq., and recently published by the New Zealand Government. By the tables attached we find that the native population of the Province of Nelson is about 1120, giving for tbe town only 9 ; for Motueka, 126; for Massacre Bay and West Wanganui, 209; Wairau and Port Underwood, 148; and the remainder for Wakapuaka, Pelorus,

Kaituna, Queen Charlotte's Sound, .&c. The above numbers are taken from the statistics of 1855, and at the present, time are believed to be somewhat less. The Province of Auckland contains 38,2G9-; Wellington, 11,772;' New Ply-. . mouth,. 3015; Canterbury, 638; and Otago, 525. It is stated that the object ofthe publication of this paper by the Government, is fo draw attention to the decadence of the native population, to' invite investigation of the cause, and also to suggest a remedy. Wakapuaka.—A much respected .inhabitant of this district, Mr. D.' Allan, who was amongst the first to proceed to the 'Aorere Gold-fields afc. their commencement, entertained a number of his friends and neighbours on Tuesday evening last, upon the occasion of his departure thence and set- - tling at Collingwood as host of the Golden Age. The evening was an extremely joyous one, and we should think, by the number present, that the principal part of the inhabitants of Suburban North bad met together, Several excellent songs were given, and dancing was kept up until a late hour. Mr. Allan takes with him the good wishes of his' friends in his new undertaking, in which we heartily join. , Pocket-picking.—An old and respected resident ofthe Wood, Mrs. Coombs, was on Saturday night waiting at the corner of Selwyn-place, close to the Examiner office, when she was accosted' by a female who, after passing some commonplace re-* marks, asked Mrs. Coombs to place her shawl over her head, as ifc was raining at the time. Having done so, she shortly afterwards missed some money, from her purse, amounting to about eighteen shillings, and although, in consequence of the darkness, she could not positively swear to the" party, she felt convinced thatthe moneyhad been abstracted by the person who spoke to* her, and whom she assisted, though it can scarcely be credited that we have amongst us so accomplished | a member of the light-fingered fraternity, as to be 1 able to abstract the money and leave the purse behind ; yet tho relation of the circumstance may. have its use in cautioning the public for the future | against such insiduous dishonesty.