Title: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Author: Cyclopedia Company Limited

Publication details: The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1905, Christchurch

Part of: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

Share:

Population.

The population of Dunedin city, at the date of the last statistics available, was 24,879 (11,757 males, 13,122 females). This was less than the total for Wellington city (43,638) or Auckland city (34,213), but considerably ahead of Christchurch city (17,538). The suburbs around Dunedin totalled, in all, 27,511 (13,062 males, 14,449 females), bringing up the grand total for city and suburbs combined to 52,390. The suburbs of Auckland contain 33,013 inhabitants, of Christchurch 39,503, and of Wellington 5,706. The grand totals in order of magnitude for the four provincial centres are thus, as follows:

	Males	Females	Total.
Auckland	32,454	34,772	67,226
Christchurch	27,265	29,776	57,041
Dunedin	24,819	27,571	52,390
Wellington	24,438	24,906	49,344

Dunedin, including suburbs, thus comes only third on the list of towns; and the rate of increase in population here has been less during the last ten years than for any other provincial centre. Between 1891 and 1901 the population of Wellington rose from 34,190 to 49,344 (an increase of 44.3 per cent), while in Auckland it rose from 51,287 to 67,226 (an increase of 31.1 per cent); in Christchurch from 47,846 to 57,041 (19.2 per cent); and in Dunedin, from 45,869 to 52,390 (only 14.2 per cent).

The suburbs of Dunedin are more uniformly peopled than those of any other New Zealand city. South Dunedin has 5,363 inhabitants, Caversham 5,266, Roslyn 4,632, Mornington 4,008, Northeast Valley 3,527. Below these, at a considerable interval, come St. Kilda with 1,700, Maori Hill 1,550, West Harbour 1,465.

With respect to the distribution of males and females, it is noticeable that in every large city in the colony but Wellington the females greatly preponderate; and even in Wellington there are nearly 500 more females than males. In Dunedin the proportion of males to females is much the same as in Auckland and Christchurch.

	Males.	Females.
In Dunedin city there are	11,757	13,122
In Caversham there are	2,608	2,658
In South Dunedin there are	2,487	2,876
In Roslyn there are	2,118	2,514
In Mornington there are	1,848	2,160

In the smaller boroughs of West Harbour, Maori Hill, and St. Kilda the males and females are more evenly divided. But the statistics quoted show that in Dunedin, as everywhere else in the colony, the female vote is, for political purposes, a great power in the land.