GROWTH OF TARANAKI

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1921, Page 4

GROWTH OF TARANAKI

HOW TOWNS ARE EXPANDING I

NEW PLYMOUTH LEADS THE W>W

GROWING FASTER THAN WANGM NUI AND PALMERSTON,

New Plymouth leads Taranaki in tho growth of population during the last live years, during which period every town in the province ha<s added to itsj population except Inglewood. The exact population of Taranaki not be arrived at yet, as some return® are not available, particularly those re« lating to Opunake and the district sur4 rounding the coastal town. The total population of the principal towns—* New Plymouth, Hawera, Stratford, El-* tham, Waitara, Inglewood, Patea and Manaia—is 25,209, while the total fori the oouQtiee already announced is 27,500, which gives a total of 52,709 j Inglewood is the only town which shows a decrease, and in the counties a increase is shown -everywhere exbep# where the boundaries have been nar< rowed. A striking feature of New Plymouth’*-* expansion is that it is growing at & faster rate than Wanganui, North, Napier and Gisborne. The per-j centage increase in New Plymouth’® population during the last five years i« 30.8, for, Palmerston North it is 22, fort Wanganui it is 20, for Gisborne it is*' 19.6, while for Napier it is 13. ton shows a larger increase than alB these towns (51.7), but this does now provide a true criterion, for the bound-4 aries have been extended to embrace* c-ther populated areas. Tiie populations of the principal townsL 1 in Taranaki, with a comparison with? the 1916 census, and the percentage in-*; crease during the last five years, are: s‘

1921 Increase 1916 per cent# New Plymouth 11,391 8,704 30.8 Hawera 4,148 3,375 22.9 Stratford .. 3,087 2,713 13.7 Kithara 2.020 1,711 18.0 ’ Waitara .... 1,566 1,422 10.5 Inglewood .... 1,184 1,199 — ],16S 1,010 16.6 Manaia G45 606 6.4