THE Temuka Leader THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1892, RELIGIOUS CENSUS OF AUSTRALASIA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2432, 1 December 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1892, RELIGIOUS CENSUS OF AUSTRALASIA.

There is an interesting article in the Review of Reviews on the religious census of Australasia, exclusive of Tasmania, which has not given any return. Leaving Tasmania out of the question, we find the following results given:—

The population 01 Australasia in 1801 was o,S01,()0o, exclu,"' lve 0

natives, and during the previous ten years it had increased .39.]3 per cent. It is rather remarkable that in some instances the growth of religion did not keep pace with the growth of population, while in other cases it exceeded it considerabty, The weakest in this respect are the Independents, and the next are the Roman Catholics, It is not easy to see how the Roman Catholics have not kept pace with the growth of population. No Church loses fewer of its members by conversion to any other form of worship, yet it is considerably behind in the increase of its numbers during the last ten years. As stated already, he population increased at the rate of 39.13 per cent., but the Roman Catholics only increased at the rate of 32.20 per cent., that is 7 per cent, below the population rate. The Methodists have increased at a tremendous rate, being far higher than the population rate, and the Baptists have also increased rapidly, but their total number is still small. The Church of England very nearly kept pace with the times, while the Presbyterians are only2 percent, better than the Roman Catholics, The exact figures are as follow :

The following shows the per centage of the four great churches to the population of the various colonies :

From this it will be seen that the Church of England is very strong all over the colonies, and has practically half the Protestant population. The Catholics comprise nearly one-fourth of the population of New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia, and over one-fifth of Victoria, while in New Zealand they are only about one-eighth. The Presbyterians are weak everywhere except in New Zealand, where they muster up to over one-fifth, and the Methodists are very strong in South Australia, being nearly one-fourth of the whole population. The Methodists have increased more rapidly than any, although no doubt they have suffered most from the spread of the Salvation Army. No doubt the variations in the increases are due chiefly to immigration. But, be that as it may, the facts disclosed by these statistics are interesting.

Church of England ... 1,488,300 Roman Catholics ... 709,824 Presbyterian ... ... 493,483 Methodists ... 403,097 Independents 79,434 Baptists Salvation Jews 87,185 76,432 42,813 1*2,218

Church of England 38.05 Roman Catholics 33.20 Presbyterians 34.45 Methodist 51.21 Independents 31.83 Baptists ,,, ... 42.88

o n3 Catholic. >> m Colony. rd o M S .d O d C3 TjC d W m o H PM !». tenau "3 o A 43 (D N.S. Wales 44, .75 or, 52 .73 10.0 Queensland 3(5. .27 23.56 11. ,50 7.84 Victoria 35, .21 21.82 M 64 13.85 S. Australia 27, .85 14.72 5, .08 23.00 W. Australia 40, ,75 35.03 1. 01 0,23 New Zealand 40 .01 .13.70 22, .57 10.11