FACTS ABOUT NEW ZEALAND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8289, 17 November 1906, Page 7

FACTS ABOUT NEW ZEALAND.

(Compiled by an Officer of the Tourist Department). i New Zealand is about six-sevenths of the area of the United Kingdom. The South laland ia about the eatre size as England and Wales. New Zealand prnper oontains no area of 103,658 equwe miles, of which the North Island oontains 44,466 •square miles, the South Island 58,525 square miles, and Stewart Island 666 square miles. . New Zealand's greatest length is about 1,100 mile's, and no point of -the colony ia more than 75 miles from the sea. The North Island is -515 miles, and the South island 525 miles in length. New Zealand's. State forests uover an area of «bont 2,302,353 acres, and oontain over 746,258,800 superficial feet of milling timber. New Zealand baa 17,754,813 acres under lease to 23,323 Crown ten- - ants. . . ' New Zsaland's Government has purchased 158 estates, containing 958,623 acres, for oloae settlement, during the past five or six years. New Zealand electors to the number of 396,657 recorded their votes at the general election of 1905. Of thia number 221,611 were males and 175,046 females. The percentage of •votes recorded to the total number ■ on the roll was 83.25 per oent., New Zealand's Hallway Department employs, 9,795 hands, and the Postal Department 4,929 hands. New Zealand had on its old age pension roll at the end of Maroh, 1906, 12.582 pensioners of wbqm €67 were Maoris. Of the total, 10,398 persona receive the full pen- ' Hion of £26 a year. \ New Zealand's deepest lake, Manapouri, haß a depth of 1,458 feet; its • bottom is 861 feet below sea.level. New Zealand's largest river as re.garda volume of water is the Olntba, in Otago, which is 154 miles in length, but is navigable for boats or email -river steamers for only about 30 miles New Zealand's climate resembles •that of Italy. Aflokland has about the same latitude as Cape Pass»re, in the south of Sicily. Wellington, the same as Naples; Christuhuroh the same as Florence; and Dunedin, the same as Venice. New Zealend's population, exclusive of Maoris ia 888,376, of whom 470,891 are males and 417,485 females. New Zealand received for tno year ebded March 31et, 1906, 2,469 • immigrants, possessing a declared ■oaoital of £110,204. New Zealand in 1905 registered 242 oases of twin births, and triplets were registered in three instances. One mother in every 97 gave birth to twins. New Zealand in 1905 registered the births of 1,082 illegitimate children; 46 ohildren in every,3,ooo ohildren born last year were born out of wedlock. New Zealand's marriage records that the average age of the ' -men married in 1905 was 29.65 years, and of women 26.35 years. . New Zealand is conspicuous in showing the lowest death rote in Australasia, and the rate is lower than that of any European oountry. New Zealand holds £8,662,022 in the Post Office Savings Bank, as 'compared with £6,350,013 in 1900, an increase of £2,312,009 in: Ave years, equal to 30.41 penoenl. New Zealand's Postal Department in 1905 received a gross sum of -£18,189,90?, and paid\ £18,171,225; the totßl gross receipts and payments were, Therefore, £36,361,127. New Zealand'a five private bank. ing institutions held £20,599,981 in 'deposits in the June quarter of 1906, aa i>ompare.d with £18,892,858, for the corresponding, quarter; of last year, an increase of £1,707,123 equal to 9.04 per cent. New Zealand's . education bill in the financial jeur ended JtJarob 31st 1906 totalled £697,956, and of this : sum £4,964 was spent-on the public sobpol cadets. New Zealand's publicdebt totals £62,131,040, fcqual 10 about £66 10a per head of population. ' New' Zealand b'orernment Advances to Settlers Office made a , net profit of £34,047 during the year ended Maroh 31st, 1906. New Zealand's total gold production to December 31st, 1905, was 17,14€,626 ounces, of the total " value of £67,230,548. New Zealand b trade with the 'United Kingdom in 1905 amounted to £19,883,102 equal to 69.8 .per ■ cent of the total. New Zealand imported in 1905 215,826 gallons of beer, 465,597 . gallons of whisky 90,963 gallons of • gin, 63,384 gallons of brandy, and 11,075 gallons of rum. New Zealand has in occupation a total area of 37,167,460 aores, an 1 increase over last year of 656,306 acres. New Zealand's acreage of land > under sown grasses is six times greater than in the whole of Australia and Tasmania. The average .prodnotivness of land under English grass"s in New Zealand is considered to be afcout nine times as great as in Australia. Nfew Zealand owns 20,030',686 •sheep, or 1,750,000 more than twp years ago, and 900;000 more than a year ago. New Zealand owns 1,810,936 cattle, as compared with 1,256,680 owned five years ago, an inoreake of 554,256 head, equal to 44.1 per cent. New - Zealand in 1905 possessed 517,720 dairy cows, or 145,304 Dead, or nearly 40 per cent, more than five years ago. : New Zealand's Post Office bandied in 1905, 69,664,941 letters, equal to 190,863 a' day for every day in the year. New Zealand's Post Office handled in 1905 ' 64,750,510 letters which were posted in the colony, which work* out at 67 let t ere jper head.of . population.'