Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1895. THE CENSUS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5144, 1 October 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1895. THE CENSUS.

The propositi of Mr Scddon, to pass the census next year, on the ground , of economy, is a little curious, If this periodical return be too expensive, it might be altered so as to full every sixth or every seventh your, instead of every fifth, but to jump it as the Premier suggests, from five to ten years, on this occasion only, , appears to be a very irregular way of meeting the difficulty. The posul seems all the more strange when the Government have jusi ' brought down a Bill, lo reconstruc the Local Governing Bodies of Nov Zealand, which js built up on i population basis. If the Govern meiit be in earnest with its Loca Government Bill, a census next yen is a sine i[im nun, One reason urgei why (lie coming census should b postponed, is ap assertion that ther has been littlo movement in th population (luring the past foil years. Are wo to understand tha the live years of Seddonian rul are admittedly a blank during wliicl the Colony lias been at a standstill Still there has been a considerabl migration of population from oi;> part of the Colony to another, am there is no doubt that in this move ment, the North Island has gainei and tho Middle Island lost. Is th North Island to bo denied th increased representation to which i has becomo- entitled ? This denin would bo quite agreeable to th Government, which is essentially i Middle Island Ministry, but we fai to see bow Mr Seddon, can witl honour postpone next year's census The result of it must show tho worli that the five years of Liberal rule when the working man' has been i; the plenitude'' of' his power,' hav constituted a term when trade, popu lation an 4 production have beei stagnant, In' the wis of t]j

Colony it will be difficult to Bud a period equallj unprogresive. We can understand that Mr Seddon does not want the damning evidence brought undertho notice of tlio world and that he would gladly postpone tlio census till the year 1901. Wo ({car that he desires to play tricks , with the census in much the samo way that certain maiden ladies are supposed to trifle with their ages, but tlio very essence of a census is its periodicity, and if Mr Seddon were to drop the stated yeni 1 , to miss one link in tlio chain, the Colony would be laughed at all the world over,