STATISTICS OF NEW MUNSTER, NEW ZEALAND, FROM 1841 TO 1848

THE Province of New Munster is considered in the following Returns as divided into four districts. The first, that of Wellington, includes Wanganui or Petre, and as much of the Northern Island as is comprised in the Province. The North end of the Middle Island, halfway down to Banks's Peninsula, forms the district of Nelson. The districts of Akaroa and Otago comprehend all the remaining portions of the Middle Island which are nearer those Settlements respectively.

The names Wanganui and Petre are applied indiscriminately to the Settlement on the Northern shore of Cook's Strait.

The Returns are compiled from materials furnished by a general Census taken in August, 1848; and from those supplied for the ordinary Colonial Blue Book at the end of each year. This will account for some discrepancies in the totals of different returns respecting the same subjects. On the face of all those derived from the Census is a notification to that effect.

POPULATION.—General Increase.—In the years 1845 and 1846 the population of New Munster had decreased 5.68 per cent. on its amount in 1844; but in 1847 and 1848 it increased 20.62 per cent, on its amount at the end of 1846. In Wellington during the latter two years the increase was 17.06 per cent., in Nelson 9.00 per cent., on their respective populations in 1846.

Increase by Births.—The number of registered births is no guide to the actual number that took place in the Province in 1848, as it is certain that very many occurred which were never registered. But even those that were, amounted to 3.55 per cent. on the population at the end of 1847. An approximation may however be made to the real rate of increase by births, by comparing the number of children in the Province under two years of age (Return No. 3.) with the numbers of the population at the end of the years 1845, 1846, and 1847. As the Returns for those years were taken in December of each year, and the Return of children in August, 1848, the amounts of population at the periods mentioned may be considered the correct numbers of those of whom the children were the produce. The average population of these three years was 7645 souls. The number of children under two years (deducting those belonging to Otago, the inhabitants of which Settlement arrived in 1848), that is, the number born between August, 1846, and August, 1848, was 760, which gives an average of 380 for each year. The increase, consequently, on the population in 1846 and 1847 was at the rate of 4.95, or nearly 5 per cent, per annum by births alone. The deaths in 1848 were only 81 per cent. (Returns No. 1 and 5) on the population of that year, (the number who died being added to its amount.) This would give 4.14 for the actual rate of annual increase of the population, exclusive of immigration. In Great Britain the increase of population for ten years, from 1831 to 1841, (allowing for emigration) was 15.02 per cent, or 1.50 per annum. The per centage is, however, too low for New Munster, as the births of those who died under two years of age are omitted in the above calculation.

The large proportion of deaths in Nelson, as compared with Wellington, in 1848, was occasioned by the number of infants dying that year of hooping cough. In the same year, throughout the Province, the deaths were 1 in 123 of the whole population. In England, in 1842, 1 in 46.08; in the United States (no date given) 1 in 37.

Original Extraction of the Population.—The centesimal proportions the inhabitants of different origin in the Province bear to the whole population respectively are as follows: (Return, No. 2.)

Thus it appears that there are, exclusive of the Military, more than four times as many English as Scotch in the Province, and nearly four times as many Scotch as Irish. The Foreigners are principally Germans, and the French at Akaroa.

Proportion of Sexes.—In August, 1848, there were about 1000 more males than females in New Munster; an excess equal to about one-ninth of the whole population. This excess is greatest among adults between 21 and 45 years of age. At Wellington the actual excess of males of this age is about four times as large as in Nelson, though the population is only half as large again. The proportion of females born is considerably greater than of males, judging from the number alive under two years old in 1848; but the proportions are reversed with respect to all the other septennial periods given. The number of females considerably exceeds that of males in England and Ireland.

Immigration and Emigration.—The Returns of Immigrants and Emigrants are mere lists of arrivals and departures. The only result apparently that can be arrived at upon this subject is an approximation to the excess of re-emigration over the immigration that has taken place independently of that set on foot by the New Zealand Company in the first colonization of the country. Deducting from the total population of August, 1848, which amounted to 8543, the number then existing of persons born in the Colony, which by Return No. 2 is shown to have been 2264, we have 6279 immigrants still in the Province. Taking the whole number introduced by the New Zealand Company as 8904 souls, and allowing 1200 for New Plymouth, we have 7704 for New Munster. If the number of immigrants at present in the Colony be subtracted from this, the remainder is 1423, which represents the excess of loss by death and re-emigration, over gain by immigration other than that caused by the New Zealand Company in founding the Settlements of the Province. As the deaths in question, by a calculation from the loose Returns we have of them, amount to between 400 and 500, the excess of loss by reemigration would be about 1000. The actual number of them that belonged to the body sent out by the Company, the Returns do not enable us to ascertain.

Medical Statistics.—The Hospital Returns chiefly relate to the Natives, and shew conclusively that the diseases most frequent among them are those arising from want of good food, good shelter, and cleanliness; perhaps, also, from the absence of habits of industry. The centesimal proportions of diseases treated at the Wellington Hospital were these:—

Thus, 71 per cent, of the cases of disease may be attributed to the causes above stated; for the 4.1 per cent. of cases of ophthalmia most probably arose from the habit of living in huts filled with wood-smoke.

Return No. 7 also shews the habitual residences and the parent tribes of the patients received into the Hospital. The greater part came from the neighbourhood of Wellington, and the West Coast as far as Wanganui, and belonged to the Ngatiawa. Such Returns, continued for a series of years, would be interesting, as marking the gradual extension of the beneficial effects of European science and skill among the Natives.

OCCUPATION.—Of the 1501 persons in the Wellington Settlement following specific callings (exclusive of female domestic servants) it appears that 34.8 per cent. were engaged in agricultural and of the 699 at Nelson, 45.3 per cent. But at Nelson there were 36.8 per cent. employed in husbandry, and in Wellington only 22.3 per cent.; the proportion being restored in the latter place by the much greater number employed in stock-keeping there than at Nelson.

Of the whole number of Mechanics and Craftsmen in the Province, no less than 54 per cent. were carpenters, joiners, splitters of wood, or sawyers.

Of the 2548 persons in the Province following specific pursuits, there were 37.5 per cent. belonging to the labouring class engaged in pastoral or agricultural pursuits; 30.5 per cent. of mechanics and craftsmen, and about 5.3 per cent. of mariners and fishermen. In Great Britain the proportion engaged in maritime occupations in 1841, including the national and mercantile navy and fishermen, was 3.8 per cent. of all male persons 20 years of age and upwards.

The Return of persons holding special licenses for the sale of spirits affords a standard of the gradual spread of the settlers over the interior of the country since the year 1845. One of the first symptoms of traffic commencing in a new direction is the licensed house for the accommodation of travellers.

PRODUCTION, &c.—Land in Cultivation, &c.—In Wellington the cultivation of land appears by the Returns (No. 10) to have been neglected for the breeding of stock, which the high rate of wages for labour, the ready market for cattle, and other circumstances, render much more lucrative. The only noticeable increase, though a slight one, in the number of acres of any grain cropped in 1848, was of oats; but a considerable quantity of land seems to have been laid down in pasture. In Nelson the quantity of acres cropped was about four times as large as in Wellington; and, on the whole, greater than in the previous year: but a slight decrease is observable in the number of acres of wheat, barley, and potatoes; the increase being in oats. The amount of land laid down in pasture had also increased.

In the whole Province a steady increase in cultivation has been maintained since 1843; the greatest being in 1845 and 1846. In Nelson the number of acres cropped in 1844, 1845, and 1846, increased at the rate of 1000 a-year, though the population in the same years was decreasing.

Stock.—In the years 1843, 1844, and 1845, horned cattle increased in the Settlement of Wellington at the rate of 400 a-year, in 1846 and 1847, of 1200 a-year; and the increase in 1848 was 2014. The greatest proportional increase in sheep was in 1846, the consequence probably of the suppression of Native disturbances.

In Nelson the amount of horned cattle in 1848 was 1500 greater than in 1847, the highest increase in any previous year having been 503. Sheep having increased at the rate of 3000 a-year during 1843, 1844, 1845, and 1846, increased by 10,000 in 1847; and by 17,000 in 1848. This was the consequence of the opening of the Wairau districts to flockowners.

There were 7 coasting vessels belonging to Natives in New Munster in 1848.

Mortgages on Land in Wellington.—It is not to be inferred from Return No. 17 that the amount of property mortgaged in 1847 was for money then advanced. The fact is, that the landed securities were not given till that year, but the debts were incurred in the earlier and less prosperous years of the Colony's existence.

INTERCHANGE.—Imports and Exports.—Wellington.—(Returns Nos. 18 to 24). The articles imported into the Colony in greatest quantities are the following: Flour, Tea and Sugar, Live Stock, Beer, Wines, Spirits, and Tobacco.

The great increase in Imports to Wellington in 1847, as compared with 1846, and the considerable decrease in 1848, seen to shew that the improving circumstances of the Colony in 1846, and the commencement of the large Commissariat expenditure, and of that upon roads, caused a sudden rise in demand, the extent of which could not be sufficiently ascertained to enable the importers to provide only the requisite supply, which accordingly produced the falling off in Imports in 1848.

It is satisfactory to observe that the importation of flour into Wellington from beyond seas has been declining since 1846; while the quantity imported coastwise has been proportionably increasing. From the Return (No. 23) of Coastwise Imports for one quarter it appears that above 100 tons must have been so imported in 1848.

The decrease in Imports in 1848 also affects the Return of Exports for that year, as the totals given in the latter include Imports re-exported. The other causes of the decrease in Exports from the Province in 1847 and 1848 are, 1st,—the increased proportion the Exports to New South Wales have borne to those to Great Britain in those years as compared with former ones, which tends to lower the declared value of goods at the Custom House, as a duty of 10 per cent. is paid upon them in Sydney; 2ndly,—the low price of wool in England in 1848; and, 3rdly,—the consequent retention by sheep owners of the produce of their flocks in the expectation of getting better prices at a future period.

Nelson—The sudden increase of Imports into Nelson (Return No. 18) from £10,706 in value in 1847, to £21,879 in 1848, is shewn by No. 19 to have been caused by the introduction of sheep, cattle, and horses,—the number imported in that year amounting in value to £13,454. These productive Imports being deducted, the total from beyond seas would amount only to £8,425, while the total Exports, beyond seas and coastwise, amounted to £6796. The greater part of the wool was retained, as the value of that exported was only £140 in 1848, and in 1847, £1878. Some was sent through Wellington; but the sheep having increased from 20,000 in 1847 to 37,000 in 1848, the value of Exports produced may be presumed to have equalled the Imports from abroad, even though such of the latter as were received through Wellington were included in the estimate. This is satisfactory proof of the sound condition of the Settlement.

The rapidly increasing production of flour for home consumption is also shewn by returns Nos. 19, 23, and 24. In 1846, 155 tons (value £1,478) were imported into Nelson from beyond seas,—in 1847 only 54 tons (value £484), and in 1848, none at all,—while 86 tons (value £1032) were exported coastwise. In 1848, 2,594 bushels of barley, 800 bushels of wheat, 38 tons potatoes, besides other field produce, were exported beyond seas.

New Munster.—The Return of Exports of New Zealand Produce (No. 21) gives a favorable view of the resources of the country. Thought the amounts exported are small, the variety of valuable articles enumerated,—several of which, especially flax and timber, appear only to need a greater supply of capital and labour to render them considerable exports—is such as to warrant sanguine anticipations of the future importance of the Colony.

Native Trade.—Return No. 22 gives an approximation to the amount of trade in New Zealand produce coastwise to Wellington. No Return of the exact quantities of particular articles was kept till the last quarter of 1848; but the Return given shews the amount of tonnage employed in the aggregate of trips in bringing the articles enumerated in it. The produce imported from the East Coast of the Northern Island is entirely grown by the Native population, and much of that from the West Coast. So with respect to Queen Charlotte's Sound. The number of tons employed in this trade amounted in 1848 to 6,044—the tonnage of each vessel being multiplied by its number of trips. When, in addition to the Maori produce thus imported, the quantity brought by land into Wellington is taken into consideration, as well as the money spent, chiefly among the Natives, in the construction of roads (about £17,000 in 1848, according to return No. 18,) it will be apparent what a powerful agency for imparting the most effective kind of civilization is brought to bear upon them by the existence of the Settlement of Wellington, with its Government expenditure. The work on the roads gives them the regular habits, and a knowledge of the implements, of industry; while they are encouraged and stimulated to persevere in it by the tempting market and ready remuneration the Settlement offers for its fruits. The resources of the Colony are at the same time developed, and the best guarantee provided for the preservation of peace. The system of road making is, in fact, a native school of industry, and the effects of attendance at it are seen, not only in the personal benefits, physical and moral, which work must unquestionably confer on the aboriginal people, but in the spread of their cultivations, the increase of their property and trade, and, as a necessary consequence, their more willing submission to European law.

The Returns of Shipping inwards and outwards, for 1846, 1847, and 1848, shew a gradually increasing amount of vessels and tonnage trading with the Colony. The number of men belonging to British and British Colonial Ships in the trade amounted in 1848 to 1054.

Provisions.—From Return No. 26 it appears that the price of the necessaries of life has diminished considerably since 1844.

MORAL CONDITION.—Education.—The conclusions to be drawn from the Educational Returns are much less definite and decisive than would have been the case had the numbers of those acquainted with, or ignorant of, the elementary arts of reading and writing, given in Return No. 30, been classified according to their ages; so far at least as to distinguish between children of the age at which instruction is generally given, and adults who had passed it. We learn, however, from the tables as they stand, that, of the proportions of persons unable to read and write in the different settlements to their population respectively, the greatest was in Akaroa, being 35.4 per cent; and, as perhaps might have been expected from the state of education in Scotland, considerably the lowest in Otago, being only 20.4 per cent. In Wellington it amounted to 28.4, and in Nelson to 32.4 per cent. The fact of a greater proportional number being unable to read and write in Nelson than in Wellington may possibly be accounted for in some degree by the greater proportion of children in Nelson, where the number under 7 years of age is 31 per cent, while in Wellington it is only 28 per cent. But it is more probable that the excess is owing to the difference of the classes from which the adult population in the two Settlements was derived. As this is so much more exclusively agricultural at Nelson than at Wellington, where so many comparatively are engaged in commercial pursuits, an equal amount of elementary knowledge was hardly to be looked for among them. This supposition is confirmed by a comparison, as far as can be made, of the proportions of the numbers above 7 years old unable to write to the population above the same age in the Settlements respectively. At Wellington this proportion amounts to 26.6 per cent., while at Nelson it is as high as 34.9 or nearly 35 per cent.; a considerable increase in the difference of the proportions against Nelson, as compared with those given above. If the Returns had furnished the means of arriving at the number of adults in the Settlements unable to write, it would probably have been found that the difference in the proportions had still increased; that is, that a still greater proportion of ignorance in reading and writing would be found in the adult population in Nelson. At Otago the ratio of persons above 7 unable to write, to the whole population above 7, is much lower than that given above, being no more than 16.0 per cent, while at Akaroa it is up to 40.8 per cent.

The results of a comparison of the proportion of the population unable to write, with the corresponding proportion in England and Wales, appear to be greatly in favour of New Zealand. The proportion throughout England and Wales in 1844 of those signing the marriage registers with marks was 40.8 per cent. of the whole number signing Though this may be too high a per centage for the whole population at the present time (as most of the males under 20 and females under 15 may be considered as excluded, and the education of the young had advanced since the portion of the population included in the marriage register was of an age to receive it, so that a Return comprising the former would lower the per centage^*), yet the proportion, it may be presumed, would even then be much greater than in New Munster, where those above 7 years old unable to write are only 29.3 per cent. of the population above 7. This comparison is on too limited a scale perhaps to warrant general conclusions, but it seems to suggest, what more extended observation will probably prove to be the case, that emigration is most frequent among the better educated of the labouring classes at home—that education, in short, is a great promoter of emigration.

The proportionate numbers receiving education compared with those at home seem also very creditable to New Munster. Of those between the ages of 2 and 14 (the only periods up to 15 specified in the Returns) the centesimal proportion in New Munster receiving daily education was 58.66, a per centage which would be increased if we could deduct the number under 5 years of age from both sides of the proportion. Even in Scotland the per centage of those receiving education in 1837 was only 31.41. And to the New Munster per centage should be added those attending Sunday schools alone, an amount not ascertainable from the Returns as made. In England and Wales in 1833 the proportion receiving daily education in schools of all kinds was 30.7 per cent. The fact, however, still remains, that there are about 26.8 per cent, of the children between the ages of 5 and 14 (deducting three-fifths from the number between 2 and 7 to get an approximation to that between 5 and 7) who are receiving no daily education in schools in New Munster. It is indisputable, then, that even allowing for private instruction at home, a great deal is left to be done in the way of education in the Province.

* Vide “Porter's Progress of the Nation. London, 1847.”

The proportion of those receiving daily education to the whole number between 2 and 14 years of age is 61.78 per cent. at Wellington, 56.89 at Nelson, and 35.55 at Otago. It is highly creditable to the founder and promoters of the Nelson Schools that the Nelson per centage is so high as it is; for the centesimal proportion of the inhabitants of the town and suburbs is in Nelson 42.4 to the whole population, while at Wellington (including Wade's Town, but not Karori or Porirua road, in the suburbs) it is 56.4. This much greater dispersion of the population over rural districts makes provision for the education of the children by many degrees more difficult.

But though we may perhaps congratulate ourselves, on the whole, that the state of Education is no worse than it is, still, considering the circumstances of the great body of the inhabitants of the Province, the proportion above stated of children between 5 and 14 years of age, without daily education, is much greater than should be allowed to continue. It will be a disgrace, indeed, if there ever be found a single adult, of British origin, born in New Zealand since its regular colonization, unable to read and write. And a peculiar degradation will attach to a person of European extraction, deficient in these simple accomplishments, in a country, the aboriginal and uncivilized inhabitants of which almost universally possess them.

Religious Persuasions.—It will be seen by Return No. 32 that at Otago, in 1848, there were 276 persons of five different persuasions, including that of the Free Church of Scotland, and 206 of the Church of England, Wesleyan, and Roman Catholic. The fact is interesting as connected with the experiment of founding Settlements exclusively of persons of one religious denomination.

Criminal Statistics and Administration of Justice.—The Criminal Statistics of the Province have at first sight an unfavourable aspect in some particulars, the cause of which is however very apparent from the Returns (Nos. 35 and 36.)

The average centesimal proportions of convictions to committals were in 1848, in Wellington 60.31, in Nelson only 37.50; or about twice as many convictions per cent. on committals in the former place as in the latter. But the average for the 5 years throughout New Munster is considerably below the per centage in England, where 72.14 per cent. of committals end in convictions, or in Scotland where 74.91 per cent. have this result. This may in some degree be accounted for by the necessary imperfection of the means for securing the punishment of offenders in a young Colony, and especially in one where the Settlements are dispersed along so extensive a sea coast as that of New Zealand, where the class most given to breaches of the law can pass so easily out of the reach of justice, and the expense of bringing witnessess to the place of trial is unavoidably great. But another cause will presently be mentioned.

The convictions for all offences, excluding those of natives, before the Supreme Court in the district of Wellington, taken at an average of the 5 years ending December 31, 1848, bore to its population the proportion of 1 conviction to every 556 souls; the committals 1 to every 338 souls. In Nelson the corresponding proportions were, of convictions 1 to every 1641, and committals 1 to every 753 souls. Thus convictions in Wellington were 3 times as many as in Nelson, in proportion to their respective populations, and committals something more than twice as many.

But committals afford perhaps a better test of the state of a country in respect to crime than convictions. And the committals throughout New Munster in these 5 years were in the ratio of 1 to every 400 souls. In England and Wales in 1841 they were only 1 to every 573, and in Scotland only 1 to every 738. This unfavorable, and at first sight very surprising result, may easily, and as far as the settlers are concerned, very satisfactorily, be accounted for.

Return No. 35 proves indisputably from what source this large amount of crime proceeds. If from the 88 committals during the 5 years be deducted those of prisoners from New South Wales and Hobart Town, and the few from Parkhurst, it will be found that the amount of committals is reduced by nearly one-third (88—31=57), which gives a proportion of 1 committal to every 464 of the population, when the per centage (2.39) from the British Colonies in 1848, which may be taken as the proportion in the other years, has been deducted from the average population with which the committals are compared. Again, deducting in addition to these, the committals of soldiers from one side of the proportion, and the number of military from the other—we have the committals diminished by nearly two-thirds (88—56=32), or 1 to every 697 souls, a much smaller proportion than in England. Lastly, if the committals of sailors and persons whose previous country was not known be omitted from the calculation, there will be left for committals among original settlers only one-fifth of the whole (88—70=18). The exact proportion to the corresponding population cannot be determined in this last case, because the number to be subtracted from the population is not ascertainable—but it is clear that it would be such as to make the comparison with either Scotland or England a very favourable one for Wellington. In Nelson the proportion, including all classes, is less than in either of those countries.

The evils of the neighbourhood of penal colonies are shown by the fact just proved, that one-third of all the crime of the Province for the last 5 years has been supplied thence. And this may in some degree account for the small proportion of convictions to committals noticed above—so large a number of the prisoners committed having been old offenders, most probably long practised in all the arts of eluding justice.

Resident Magistrates' Courts.—Return No. 37 of Classified Prisoners Summarily Convicted, shews in a minor degree the same facts as to the sources of crime. Rather more than one-half the cases of convictions in Wellington during the 5 years were of original settlers. The proportions in 1848 (Return No. 38) for the different Settlements, shew that small offences were least frequent in Nelson and most in Akaroa. But the numbers are too small in the later case for any sound conclusions to be drawn. Cases of drunkenness brought before the Resident Magistrate were 3 times as numerous (soldiers not included) in Wellington as in Nelson. The more maritime and commercial pursuits of the inhabitants and the greater amount of money in circulation may perhaps account for this.

Civil Cases.—Return No. 39 clearly demonstrates that the Resident Magistrates' Courts have satisfactorily superseded the Courts of Requests in the Province. The very considerable increase in the number of Civil Cases in 1848, and of the proportion of cases settled out of Court, prove that the extended powers given to the Magistrates have operated beneficially for the public, and that a greater amount of business in both the Civil and Criminal departments of summary jurisdiction can be efficiently carried on in the single Court, than was in the two together previously existing instead of it,—namely, the Police Magistrate's and the Court of Requests.

The English and Scotch Statistics alluded to in the foregoing memorandum are taken from Mr. Porter's “Progress of the Nation—1847,” whose general arrangement has also been as nearly as possible observed in the classification of the Returns.

ALFRED DOMETT,                

Colonial Secretary.