NEW ZEALAND'S PROGRESS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 273, 24 April 1873, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND'S PROGRESS.

("Auckland JVcwa.")

For the Colony of New Zealand there are no returns of population in the year 1853, but in 1854 the colonists numbered nearly 30,000 adults ; and in 1871 the colony -was the home of 267,000 porsoiis. The tirst census was taken 14 years ago — in 1858 -so that, really, the earlier history of the Colony, from Captain Cook's days, is involved in obscurity, or told in legends or reminiscences, by those who took part in the early colonization of these islands. In 1858, there were 12,000 houses ; in 3871, the number built was increased to 57,000. The first record . of sale of land is given in 1856, when 51,972 acres brought £33 15a (id The free grants of land in that year were 14 acres ; but in 1871 they had increased wonderfully and rapidly to 123,796 acres. More startling, however, is the progress of cultivation, and here, looking at the population returns above given, the most ordinary reader will see their force and significance at once. The first return is for the yefir 1857, when the land under cultivation, including sown grasses, is given as 121,648 acres ; but in 1871 it is given as 1,042,042 acres. And as showing how other stock than that of sheep has increased, the following returns prove :— ln 1858, horses, 14.972 ; cattle, 137,204; pigs, 40,734; and in 1871, horses, 81,000 ; cattle, 336,492 ; pigs, 151. 500. Here then again is presented evidence of progression socially, fur increase of population means, with land settlement, the highest duty a young nation can undertake. If we rder to the column of births, marriages, and deaths, we find that, as the gold returns of the colony in 1865, 1866, and 1867 rose, so these increased. In the year last quoted, 8918 yonng colonists were born ; 2702 shuffled off this mortal oil ; while 2050 embarked in the lottery of matrimonial speculation. The table we are commenting upon furnishes no record of the number of schools, but a paper, numbered 55, supplies the omission, as far as regards the year 1871, when the number uf teachers was 602 ; pupils, 20,034 ; and average attendance, 16,510. Savings Banks returns commenced 1858 with 715 depositors for L 7862, and closed in 1871 with 14,275 depositors for L 454,966. We have .thus clearly recorded some of the savings of the colonists. This column demands a separate artide to itself, for with it are incorporated other tables, investments, bonds, loans, &c. ; but each of these, when examined, bears out the assertion recently indulged in when we stated that, despite native wars and heavy taxation, the colonists had progressed beyond even their own ideas. In 1866, the Colony was satisfied with 700 miles of telegraph lines, 1400 miles of wire, and 78,000 messages ; but in 1871 the miles of lines and wire were 2015 and 3287 respectively, and the messages had increased to 369,100.

The Melbourne "Economist" utters the following note of admonition : — "We hope our farmers will take a little more pains in saving their straw than they have hitherto done : a short supply of labor will of course oblige them to draw it out of the way at first, but when the grain is thrashed and away two or three hands ought to be employed in stacking ; a fortnight's work in securing and thatching two or three stacks for the winter will repay the owner. We have heard of several growers who have more green fodder than they can consume just now. Last year, we think, we advised them to cut such spare fodder and mix it, layer and layer, with the sweet newly-thrashed straw — such as lucerne, prarie grass, or maize may thus be used ; and those who build a stack with such material 3 will not hesitate to do so again ; the gentle heating of the green stuff sweetens the straw, and in the winter the whole will cut into the best of nutritious straw. A Boston woman, who has been reading in the papers that Sunday marriages are illegal, wants to know how it is with a baby born on a Sunday. If so, which should be punished — the father, the mother, or the baby 1 A police order has been issued in Melbourne to the effect that all women loitering in the streets after midnight are to be apprehended. An affray, in which one gambler blazed away at another several times and killed an innocent man, is called by a Missouri paper " a careless use|of fire-arms." "Administering lead through a tube " is what the papers call it in Michigan.