STATISTICS OF NEW ZEALAND FOR 1862.

Registrar General's Office, Auckland, December 19th, 1863.

SIR,

I have now the honor to present the Statistical Tables for 1862, completed in the form in which the preceding six Volumes of “Statistics of New Zealand” (commencing from the year 1853) have been issue. As you are aware, a considerable proportion of the information contained in them is already in the hands of the members of the Colonial Legislature, by means of a number of Tables which—(it having been found impracticable from various causes, of which circumstances leading to unusual delay in the printing were the chief, to have the entire Volume ready before the opening of the late Session)—I prepared with a view to the convenience of immediate reference during the proceedings of the General Assembly, and which were laid before both Houses at an early period of the Session, by command of His Excellency. The Tables so issued by anticipation, are, of course, included—with those which could not then be .supplied–in the present Volume, which is designed, like its predecessors, for more general circulation, and more permanent preservation.

In accordance with the plan adopted in previous Volumes, I proceed to give here in a very condensed form, (though with some explanatory additions), the substance of the information embodied in such of the following Tables as relate to matters of most general interest. References in the margin will direct those who are desirous of making themselves acquainted with the details on any special branch of the Statistics, to the Tables in which the required particulars will be found.

Such an estimate of the Population of the Colony as it is possible to arrive at in the years in which a Census is not taken, is given in Table I. It has been constructed in the way usually regarded as affording tolerably close approximate results; viz., adding to the previously ascertained Population the excess of Immigration over Emigration, and the excess of Births over Deaths during the year. According to this estimate, the Population of New Zealand on the 31st December, 1862, (exclusive of the Military and their Families) was 125,812; viz., 79,680 Males, and 46,132 Females, being an increase amounting to 23,791; viz., 15,618 Males, and 8,173 Females. Centesimally, this increase was 24.31 per cent. on the whole Population.

The progress of the Population during the respective Quarters of the year is compendiously exhibited in the following summary:—

The proportions in which the Total Increase in the Population of the Colony is distributed amongst the several Provinces cannot be ascertained with accuracy, for reasons which are stated in a note to Table No. I., being chiefly (1) the fact that the numbers of arrivals and departures between Ports in the Colony, officially reported by the Emigration Officers, do not agree, (the former very considerably exceeding the latter); and, (2)the uncertainty as to the amount of over-land migration from one Province to another. But, as it is desirable to furnish some indication of the probable Population of each Province at the close of 1862, I have made up an estimate base on a calculation of the migration between the Ports in the respective Provinces; which, however, assumes to be no more than an approximation to the actual numbers, and, indeed, in the aggregate necessarily exceeds the estimated total for the whole Colony by the excess of arrivals over departures in the official Returns. It is to be remarked, however, that Southland is to be excepted from this general statement, a Census of that Province taken by the Provincial Government in December, 1862, furnishing reliable numbers, of which, of course, I avail myself.*

*An Abstract of the principal results of the Census of Southland in December, 1862,(compiled from the Returns published in the Gazette of the Province), will be found in Appendix A. and Appendix B. of this Volume.

I subjoin a Table which shows the Population of the provinces in December 1862, as thus calculated, in comparison with the Population ascertained by the Census of New Zealand in December 1861.

According to this calculation, the Population of the Northern and the Middle Island respectively would be; Northern Island, (including the Provinces of Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, and Hawke's Bay), Males, 25,434; Females, 20,672; Total, 46,106: Mile Island, (including the Provinces of Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago, an Southland), Males, 56,940; Females, 26,012; Total, 82,952.

The IMMIGRATION(over seas) to New Zealand in 1862, amounted to 34,290 souls; viz., Males, 25,072 adults, and 1,933 children; Females, 5,571 adults, and 1,714 children.

The EMIGRATION(over seas) from the Colony during the year amounted to 13,299 souls; viz., Males, 12,525 adults and 170 children; Females, 478 adults and 126 children.

The net excess of Immigration over Emigration is thus shown to have been 20,991 souls, which was distribute amongst the Provinces in the following proportions; Otago, 14,058, Auckland, 3,277; Canterbury, 2,768; Southland, 517; Nelson, 271; Wellington, 99, and Hawke's Bay, 3.^*

A classification of the whole Immigration and Emigration of the year; according to the Countries from which the Immigrants arrived, and to which the Emigrants went, shows the following results:—

It thus appears that the excess of Immigration over Emigration, viewed in relation to Countries was; United Kingdom, 8,376; Australian Colonies, 12,740; Foreign States, 24. In the division relating to other British Ports, the Emigration exceeded the Immigration by 149.

* Making a Total of 20,993, from which is to be deducted 2—excess of Emigration over Immigration at Taranaki.

The ARRIVALS and DEPARTURES between the Ports of the Colony are shown in a separate Table, which is a correct compilation from the Returns forwarded by the Emigration Officers; but (for reasons referred to above, and stated in notes to the Table) the numbers can be regarded as affording, at best, only approximately reliable information.

The BIRTHS registered in New Zealand in 1862 amounted to 4,064; viz., 2,090 Males, and 1,974 Females; being an increase of 623, (viz., 338 Males and 285 Females) over the number in 1861.

The DEATHS registered in 1862 were 1,231, viz., 773 Males and 458 Females. The number in 1861 was 1,109, (viz., 632 Males, and 477 Females). Thus it appears that, while the total of Deaths showed an increase in 1862 as compared with 1861 amounting to 122, the number of Deaths of Females in 1862 was actually 19 less than in 1861,—the increase being on the deaths of Males, which were 141 more in 1862 than in 1861. Of the total in 1862, 497 (viz., 266 Males, and 231 Females were children under five years of age. One hundred and forty-five of the deaths (133 Males and 12 Females) were not occasioned by disease, but by drowning and other external causes.

The excess of Births over Deaths in 1862 was 2,833; viz., 1,317 Males, and 1,516 Females. The total excess of Births over Deaths in eight years included in these Tables was 14,690; viz., 7,046 Males, an 7,644 Females.

The MARRIAGES solemnize in New Zealand in 1862 numbered 1,091, being an increase of 213 as compared with 1861. The numbers for the respective Provinces in each year since “The Marriage Act, 1854” came into operation, and also the numbers solemnize in each year by Officiating Ministers of the several Religious Bodies, and by Registrars, will be found in the Tables referred to in the margin.

The Tables relating to TRADE and INTERCHANGE (as well as the Revenue Tables) have, as in preceding years, been prepared in the Office of the Hon. The Colonial Treasurer and Commissioner of Customs, under the supervision of Mr. R. F. Porter. They include several new Tables.

Tables VIII. to XIII. Inclusive, relate to Shipping. The first Two show the Numbers, Tonnage, and Crews of Vessels Entered Inwards an Cleared Outwards at the several Ports of the Colony during the year, exhibiting a Total inwards of 813 Vessels, of 301,395 Tonnage, and a Total outwards of 783 Vessels, with 288,647 Tonnage, being an increase, as compared with 1861, of 217 Vessels, with 103,379 Tonnage inwards; an of 237 Vessels, with 83,297 Tonnage outwards.

The next Two (which are new Tables) show the particulars of Vessels, Tonnage, and Crews, classified with relation to the “Countries whence Arrived” and “Countries for which Cleared;” and the following Two (also new) show the Nationality of the Vessels, inwards an outwards. From the latter it appears that of the Total of 813 Vessels Inwards, 187 were British, with 126,044 Tonnage; 496 Colonial, with 109,350 Tonnage; 12 German, with 3,889 Tonnage; an 2 Dutch, with 1,491 Tonnage.

Although they occupy a different place in the numerical arrangement, it may be convenient here to refer to the Tables relating to Registered Vessels belonging to ports in New Zealand. The Total Number in December, 1862, was 287 Vessels, of 10,825 Tonnage, against 252 Vessels, 9,144 Tonnage, in 1861. Of the Total, 206 Vessels, with 6,863 Tonnage, belonged to the Port of Auckland.

In the Report prefixed to the Statistics of 1861, I invited attention to the very encouraging increase in the IMPORTS of the Colony during that year, amounting to £945,478,—the total value of Imports in 1861 having been £2,493,811 against £1,548,333 in 1860. A much more remarkable advance is, IMPORTS. however, presented by the figures for 1862, in which year the total value of Imports reached the sum of £4,626,082, being an increase, as compared with 1861, of no less than £2,132,271, or 85.50 per cent. Taking the Imports of the Provinces separately, the centesimal increase in 1862 was, Auckland 37.99; Taranaki, 19.79; Wellington, 36.51; Hawke's Bay, 65.20; Nelson, 31.63; Marlborough, 76.80; Canterbury, 77.10; an Otago (including Southland, which, not having been established as a Province until April 1861, does not appear independently in the Summaries until 1862), 151.63. It is thus evident that, although Otago, with its rich Gold Fields, stands foremost here as in various other branches of the Statistical Returns, yet all the other Provinces participated more or less largely in the general prosperity indicated by the Total Increase.

The total value of EXPORTS from New Zealand in 1862 was £2,422,734 EXPORTS against £1,370,247 in 1861, being an Increase of 76.81 percent The increase was, no doubt, as may be supposed, occasioned to a large extent, by the productiveness of the Otago GOLD FIELDS, giving to that Province a Centesimal Increase of 107.11 on the previous year. WOOL, however, (which is the other great export of the Colony financially viewed), also, exhibited a striking Increase the Total value of the Wool exported in 1862 having been £674,226, against £523,728 in 1861,—being a Centesimal Increase of 28.73 per cent. On the Export of 1862 as compared with that of 1861,—which was itself an Increase on that of 1860 amounting to 17.85 per cent.

The details of Imports an Exports at the several Ports will be found in Tables XVIII. And XIX.; and the following Tables, (XX. To XXVIII), contain Comparative Summaries showing, in a compendious form, not only for the immediately preceding year (1861), but also for the previous years since 1853, the totals of the principal articles of Export. Separate Tables are devoted to Gold, Grain, Kauri Gum, (an Export of the Province of Auckland exclusively), Oil, Potatoes, Timber, and Wool respectively. To those who desire to trace in particular branches the progressive advance of New Zealand, these Tables will, I trust, furnish interesting information in a convenient shape; while for those who may be content to look only at General Totals for the Colony an its several provinces Tables XVI. And XVII. furnish views of the Total Value of Imports and Exports for the successive years from 1853 to 1862 inclusive. The range of advance will be seen to have been thus:—

The Tables relating to REVENUE include a considerable variety of information in addition to the particulars embodied in the former Volumes of Statistics, and add their conclusive testimony to other evidences of the rapid progress of the Colony.

The Customs Revenue, which in 1861 exceeded that for 1860 by £71,695, shows for 1862 an advance, as compared with 1861, amounting to £138,573, or 53.12 per cent., the respective Totals being £399.436 in 1862, against £260,863 in 1861.

The Total Ordinary Revenue in 1862 was £508,332, against £324,146 in 1861. The Territorial Revenue in 1862 was £606,830, against £347,354 in 1861. The TOTAL REVENUE in 1862 was £1,115,162, against £671,500 in 1861. The increase in 1862, centesimally calculate, shows 56.82 on Ordinary Revenue; 74.70 on Territorial Revenue; an 66.07 on the Total Revenue in this single year. Table XXXI. will enable the reader to mark the advance to this point during the successive years since 1853, when the General Total of the Colonial Revenue was only £149,820.

The following Table presents a comparative view of the Revenue of the several Provinces in 1861 and 1862, showing the Centesimal Increase or Decrease for each in the latter year:—

The Income and Expenditure of the General an Provincial Governments during the year ended December 31st, 1862, are shown in a (new) Table, the preparation of which has been a work of considerable labour in the Treasury Department.

The two following Tables show, in detail, the Revenue and the Expenditure of the several provinces in 1862. These also are newly constructed Tables.

The next Table shows, in detail, the Receipts and Disbursement by the Receivers of Land Revenue in the several Provinces during the year ended December 31st, 1862.

An altogether new Table shows the Funded Debt of the General an provincial Governments on the 31st December, 1862, specifying the authority under which the Liabilities were respectively incurred; the Amounts authorize to be Borrowed; the Amount of Debentures in Circulation; the Rate of Interest; the Rate of Sinking Fund; when the Debentures are Redeemable; the Unexpended Balance of Amount raised; the Amount of Sinking Fun accrued, and what Amount and in what manner Invested. It will, of course, be understood in examining this Table that it does not profess to give information later than the date specified in its heading.—viz., the 31st December, 1862. It should also be understood that the Table includes only those loan Acts under the operation of which Money had actually been raised, previous to the end of 1862.

“An Act for the Incorporation an Regulation of Joint Stock Companies an other Associations” having been passed by the General Assembly in 1860, a Table is introduced containing the Names and other particulars relating to the Companies registered under this Act from the commencement of its operation to the end of 1862.

The series of Tables showing the Land Sales in the Colony from the 1st April, 1856, (the earliest ate to which the information could be carried with accuracy), which was commenced in the Statistical Volume for 1861, is continue in the present Volume The first Table (No. XXXIX.) shows in detail the particulars relating to the Waste Lands sold, or otherwise dispose of, in the several Provinces during the year 1862: the second, (No. XL.) contains a Summary which shows the Totals for each province during the entire period from April, 1856, to December, 1862; and the third (No. XLI.), classifying the information with respect to time rather than to locality, shows, in a similarly compendious Summary, the Totals for the whole Colony during each year of that period.

A Table in the usual form shows the Average prices of Provisions and Live Stock in the several Provinces in 1862.

A series of seven Tables affords a variety of information relating to the POST OFFICE IN 1862, including the numbers of Letters and Newspapers respectively received at, and despatched from the several chief Post Offices in the Colony, and the number of Letters despatched to places out of the Colony, specifying the Offices from which they were despatched, and the places of their destination. This latter branch of information admits of a comparison with the previous year, (which alterations in the form of the Result is strikingly indicative of the increase of correspondence by which the year has been marked. The total of the Letters despatched to places out of the Colony in 1861 was 257,374, and in 1862, 421,855.

A further view of progress is afforded by a Comparative Table of the Postal Revenue of the several Provinces of New Zealand, for the years 1858 to 1862 inclusive, distinguishing the amounts for each Quarter of those years. It will be seen that the Total advanced from £6,024 in 1858, to £14,108 in 1861, while an unprecedented advance took place in 1862, in which year the Postal Revenue reached the sum of £22,710, being an increase of 60.97 per cent. On the preceding year.

As the Money Order system did not come into operation in New Zealand until the 1st August, 1862, the information in relation to it given in this volume only extends over a period of five months, viz., to December 31st in that year. Up to that date the Total Number of Orders issued in the Colony was 1,410, viz., 1,059 on Great Britain; 349 on Victoria; an 2 on Places in New Zealand. The respective amounts were, Orders on Great Britain, £4,716 8s. 1d.; on Victoria, £1,859 9s.; an on Places in New Zealand £15; Total, £6,590 17s. 1d. The Orders paid in the Colony were 160, viz, issued in Great Britain, 102; in Victoria, 56; in New Zealand, 2. The amounts in these cases were, issued in Great Britain, £515 11s. 8d.; in Victoria, £294 18s.; in New Zealand, £15; Total, £824 12s. 8d.

The Legal and Criminal Statistics occupy a series of eleven Tables, which have been prepare substantially in accordance with the plan pursued in previous years and do not present any features calling for special notice here. They have been compiled from Returns including the Supreme Court, the District, Courts, and the Resident Magistrates' Courts, distinguishing in the latter class the cases, whether Civil or Criminal, in which Europeans, or Maories, or both were concerned. The last Table in the series (No. LX.), shows the Numbers of Prisoners, Male and Female, committed to the Goals n New Zealand during 1862, specifying the Causes of Imprisonment; in what Country the Prisoners were Born; to what Class they belonged; and the degree of their Education. The Total Number Committee was 2,692, viz., 2,368 Males an 324 Females.

The Table relating to SAVING BANKS shows the Number of those valuable Institutions in New Zealand in 1862; the Dates of their Establishment; the Numbers of Depositors; an the Amounts Deposited an Withdrawn during the year, distinguishing the European and Maori Depositors.

In the years in which the Census is taken, a large amount of information on the subject of EDUCATION is, of course, collected;—although, (as I had occasion to remark in my Report on the Census of 1861, as well as in that on the Census of 1858), “the columns for School Attendance were those which, in many instances, were least satisfactorily filled up.” An effort was made to procure for the present Volume, not merely a continuation but an enlargement, with all attainable accuracy, of the information previously acquired. With this view, a series of questions respecting Public Schools were prepared, and forwarded to the several Provinces. The result, however, has, I regret to say, been only very partially successful. Different Provinces have their different systems, their different modes of keeping their records, and their different periods of making up their annual accounts; and delay, difficulty, and ultimate defectiveness characterise many of the Returns from the particular localities in which Public Schools were established. The Returns from the Province of Nelson have been receive only within a few days—after the middle of this month of December—and when the last pages of these Statistics were in the Printer's hands, and it would not have been received in the form requested; but by the same Mail a Provincial Gazette of the 1st instant has come to hand, containing an elaborate Report of an Education Commission appointed to inquire into the subject in that Province. I have introduced into Table LXII. as much as could immediately be made available, of the information from those Provinces; but it is right to add that the Canterbury Commissioners, while they express their belief that such Statistics as they have embodied in their Report are “substantially correct,” yet frankly state that “The Returns furnished from the various quarters to which they have applied are so inaccurate, incomplete, and in many cases contradictory, as to prevent their arriving at more than general conclusions.”

With respect to Returns which were received in sufficient time for detailed examination, considerable labour has been devote in this Office to the attempt to compile the particulars so as to Tabulate the results in clear statistical from. For the present, however, I find that no more complete or satisfactory summary than that in Table LXII. can be produced consistently with a due regard to correctness. Even the figures there given are to be received as only the best approximations that could be made,— except in the Number of Public Schools in the several Provinces, which may be accepted as reliable, an which were, —in Auckland,55; Wellington, 13; Hawke's Bay,2; Nelson, 23; Marlborough, 5; Canterbury, 37; Otago, 21; and Southland,2.

The gratifying fact, however, is certain, not withstanding the incompleteness of the Statistical details just now available, that the magnitude of the interests involved in the Education of the rising generation is not overlooked or lightly regarded in New Zealand. If to the Public Schools known to exist were added the numerous Private Schools, many of them of a high character, in successful operation in various parts of the Colony, and the amount of home-education in progress, there can be no doubt that a Total would be arrive at which, although it would not fully satisfy, yet could not fail to encourage and cheer those who see in the intellectual and moral training of the young an inestimable and indispensable element in the true progress and prosperity of the community. I trust, also, that by the co-operation of the Boards of Education and others whose sympathy in the object may be anticipated, future endeavours to demonstrate Statistically what is really being effected in this great undertaking, will be more successful than perhaps could have reasonably been expected in a first attempt to collect detailed and diversified particulars.

The Numbers of the Population in the Province of SOUTHLAND, ascertained by a Census taken by the Provincial Government in December, 1862, have been, as already stated, introduced in the General Estimate of the Population; but further information relating to the People, their Habitations, their Condition, and the Cultivations and Live Stock owned by them, have been compiled from the Census Returns, and are given in the Appendix to this Volume. The results strikingly exhibit the rapid progress of this young Province; showing an increase in December 1862, as compared with December 1861, of 89.83 per cent. On the Population; 60.32 per cent on the Land Fenced; 71.33 per cent. On the Land under Crop; 49.87 per cent on Horses; 25.47 per cent. On Horned Cattle; and 49.02 per cent. On Sheep.

In the Report on the Statistics of 1861, I stated that, Meteorological Instruments having been recently forwarded by the General Government to the several Provinces with a view to an extended and uniform system of observation, it might be anticipated that more complete information on this important subject would in future be available. For reasons explained in “Remarks” by Dr. Knight, Director of the Meteorological Stations, (Appendix C.), the results of these arrangements appear in only a limited and comparatively imperfect form for 1862. The Appendix, however, contains Dr. Knight's interesting “Remarks on the Meteorology of New Zealand, in 1862, and Tables showing the results of observations, more or less complete, made at Auckland, New Plymouth, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, and Dunedin. Much fuller an more satisfactory contributions to the Meteorology of New Zealand may, no doubt, be expected from the observations in 1863.

I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient Servant, JOHN B. BENNETT, Registrar-General.