Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Towns

Towns.

There is a great difference between Auckland and the other large provinces in regard to centres of population. The City of Auckland itself, with its beautiful residential suburbs, is the largest centre of population in the Colony, and in all respects which go to make a town, it compares advantageously with all the other centres, but there is an almost entire absence from the province of Auckland of what may be termed secondary centres, of such towns, for instance, as might compare with Invercargill and Oamaru in Otago; Wanganui, Palmerston North, or Masterton in Wellington; or Timaru in Canterbury. The Thames is, of course, a very important centre, but it is so exclusively a mining town, and is surrounded by so limited a district as to be hardly capable of being brought into comparison with towns of similar size in other provinces. Gisborne is growing into importance, and being the centre of an isolated district, must be considered the second town in the province, though some others are larger, such as the Thames and Onehunga.

During the last census period, the City of Auckland and suburbs added 6,329 to the population, as against a net decrease in the total population of the outside boroughs of 178. Though the city and suburbs of Wellington added the still greater number of 7,568, the outside boroughs of that province, instead of decreasing, made a net increase of 4,292, not to mention the formation of the borough of Pahiatua, whose rapidly increasing population was, in 1896, 1,158. Christchurch and suburbs added 3,484, against the very poor increase for the outside boroughs of 430; but Otago shows a better record for the outside boroughs, for while Dunedin and suburbs added only 1,411, the distant boroughs increased by 2,403. Of this increase, the north, south, cast and west boroughs of Invercargill contributed 1,368. Otago has, however, about twenty boroughs, with a population of less than a thousand each, the smallest—Avenal—having only 327. Auckland has only two such boroughs, and Birkenhead, the smaller of the two, with a population of 690, is a suburb of the city. Canterbury has two boroughs with less than a thousand, the smaller—Sumner—having 538. In Wellington there is no borough with less than a thousand, the smallest being the suburb of Karori, with a population of 1,024. These figures are sufficient to show that the town development in the province of Auckland is mainly going on in the chief centre. Fortunately there is abundant room for development in and around Auckland, and its splendid reserves will do much to prevent overcrowding.

While it would be encouraging to find secondary towns springing up in the province, and progressing rapidly towards importance, there are manifest advantages in having one large and ever-growing town. Auckland is reaping these advantages in many ways already, and will do so much more in the future.