I. Population, etc.

To begin first with the population, New Zealand had a population, at the end of 1864, of 184,131 persons, not including those of the Native race; but of that number 9,136 were officers and men on military service. We have now practically no army, such as existed in 1864. The Native difficulty does not now, as it then did, loom largely in the public mind. We have, it is true, a police force for the colony, but it only numbers 238 armed constabulary and 490 police. While for the defence of our ports from foreign aggression we have as a nucleus for the Volunteer movement the following number of artillerymen at each port: Auckland, 26; Wellington, 27; Lyttelton, 27; Dunedin, 26: making a total of 106. We do not need officers and men to fight the Maoris now, and, so far as foreign aggression is concerned, we have of thoroughly drilled Volunteers no less a number than 10,110, made up as follows: Adults, 8,530; cadets, 1,580; whilst there are many of our population who have been drilled, but who are not enrolled in any permanent Volunteer corps. The total population at the end of 1884, exclusive of Maoris, was estimated to be 564,304 persons, of whom 306,667 are males and 257,637 females. Perhaps there are now in the colony about 45,000 Maoris. It was estimated that in 1881 there were 44,097 Maoris, but it is impossible to state at present their exact number. page 6 Amongst our population, however, we have people from all parts of the world. Of coloured races the largest number, outside the Maoris, belongs to the Chinese empire. At the last census, in 1881, we had no less than 5,033 Chinese. But, if we take the birthplaces of the settlers in the colony, it will be seen that those born in New Zealand now number considerably more relatively than they did in 1864. In 1881 45.60 per cent, of the people were born in New Zealand, and as the population of the colony increases the percentage of native New Zealanders will soon show a higher percentage. The following were the nationalities for the years 1864 and 1881 respectively:—

	Proportion per cent, of each Nationality to the respective Totals of Population.
	1864.	1881.
England	33.95	24.33
Ireland	11.80	10.08
Scotland	17.98	10.77
Wales	0.60	0.40
New Zealand	23.95	45.60
Australian Colonies	5.54	3.53
Other British Dominions	1.80	0.82
United States of America	0.65	0.17
France	0.29	0.17
Germany	1.16	0.98
Other Foreign Countries	1.27	2.71
At sea	0.35	027
Not specified	0.06	0.17

As to the religions of the people, the census of 1881 gave the following: and, relatively, there will not be much change—namely, 41.50 per cent. Church of England, 24.09 Presbyterian, including under the head of Presbyterian the various Presbyterian organizations. In New Zealand there are two main Presbyterian bodies, what is called the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, and the Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland. One does not interfere with the territorial jurisdiction of the other, and they are managed by distinct Church Courts. Of Wesleyans there are 9.52 per cent. The following statement will show the religions in the years 1864 and 1881 respectively:— page 7

	Proportions per cent.
	1864.	1881.
Church of England and Protestants not otherwise defined	46.43	41.50
Presbyterians	24.43	23.09
Methodists, &c.	8.04	9.52
Baptists	1.97	2.34
Congregational Independents	2.14	1.37
Lutherans	1.05	1.18
Roman Catholics	12.49	14.08
Pagans		1.01
Otherwise described	1.29	2.33
Object to state		2.85

There can hardly be said to he any place noted for a particular religious belief. The original constitution of

Canterbury was Anglican; of Otago and Southland, Presbyterian; and of New Plymouth, Nonconformist: but that has been altered by the subsequent colonization of the country. There is, however, a larger proportion of Presbyterians in Otago and Southland than in any other part of the colony, and in Canterbury perhaps there is a larger proportion of Anglicans.

In 1881 there were 730 clergymen licensed to marry, and here it may be mentioned that every clergyman is licensed to marry on application by the head of his church or by twenty-four of his people to the Registrar-General. The number licensed to marry in 1861 was 247.

Still, dealing with the population of the colony, it may page 8 be well to notice the birth-, death-, and marriage-rates, which, for the two years 1864 and 1884, were as follows:—

	Numerical.		Proportion per 1,000 of Population.
	1864.	1884.	1864.	1884.
Births	6,501	19,846	38.05	35.91
Deaths	2,921	5,740	17.03	10.39
Marriages	1,878	3,800	11.12	6.87

The reason why there was such a high percentage of those who could read and write in 1864 was the large number of adults in the colony, mainly attracted by the gold discoveries. This also accounts for the then vast preponderance of males over females. Excluding military page 10 and their families—which consisted of officers and men 9,136, male children 933, women 1,026, and female children 880—there were,—

	Males.	Females.
Under 5 years	13,531	13,101
5 years and under 10	9,474	9,083
10 years and under 15	6,802	6,378
15 years and under 21	8,108	7,037
21 years and under 40	53,919	22,396
40 years and under 55	11,023	5,703
55 years and under 65	2,409	1,348
65 and upwards	657	418
Not stated	657	117
	106,580	65,578

It will be noticed that there has been a gradual decrease of those who cannot write their names in the marriage register.

In 1864 the colony was divided into provinces, and each province had the management of its own educational affairs, without any interference or assistance from the General Government. In 1875 the provinces were abolished, and a general Education Act passed in the year 1877. We have had since then one system applicable to the whole of the colony. We have thirteen Education Boards, which have the general management of education in their districts; and for each school district there is a School Committee, elected annually by householders and parents of children. There is rarely more than one school in each district. The Committees take considerable interest in the educational affairs of their own districts. The Boards are elected by the School Committees. Each Board consists of nine members, and three retire annually.

The total expenditure on education was as follows:— page 12

	£	s.	d.
Auckland, January to December, 1864	2,781	19	1
Taranaki (say)	290	0	0
Hawke's Bay, estimates, July, 1864 to 1865	725	0	0
Wellington, year ending March, 1864	1,269	19	0
Nelson, year ending March, 1864	4,284	14	1
Marlborough, year ending June, 1864	1,200	0	0
Canterbury, year ending June, 1864	8,451	11	4
Otago, year ending December, 1864	2,043	13	1
Total	£19,046	16	7

These amounts did not include school fees, nor, in Otago, the school rates: the sums are merely the votes and expenditure out of the general provincial revenue.

The provision for secondary education, even so far back as 1864, had been, considering the age of the colony, considerable. There was a college at Nelson, a college and grammar school in Canterbury, and a high school at Dunedin, and some good private secondary schools in other parts of the colony. There are now in New Zealand the following secondary schools, viz.: Auckland College and Grammar School, Auckland Girls' High School, Thames High School (for boys and girls), New Plymouth High School (for boys and girls), Wanganui Endowed School, Wellington College, Wellington Girls' High School, Napier Boys' High School, Napier Girls' High School, Nelson College, Nelson Girls' College, Christ's College Grammar School, Christchurch; Christchurch Boys' High School, Christchurch Girls' High School, Rangiora High School (for boys and girls), Akaroa High School (for boys and girls), Ashburton High School (for boys and girls), Timaru High School (for boys and girls), Waitaki High School, Otago Boys' High School, Otago Girls' High School, Southland Boys' High School, and Southland Girls' High School. All these are in full operation.

We have now also a New Zealand University, which is purely an examining body; it confers degrees, but it has no teachers in its employment. The teaching part of the University work is done by affiliated institutions. At present they are as follows: The Otago University at Dunedin, the Canterbury College in Christchurch, the Auckland Uni- page 13 versity College in Auckland, the Nelson College at Nelson, and St. John's College, Auckland.

The expenditure on University education in 1884 was £26,815. The number of students was 499.

The expenditure on secondary education was £71,517: the attendance being—roll number, 2,577; daily average, 2,351.

The expenditure on primary education was £363,316, inclusive of £49,679 on buildings: the attendance being—roll number, 96,840; daily average, 75,391.

The other test is the number of offenders found guilty in the Courts. Crimes may be classed under two heads: what may be termed petty offences, and grave offences—offences dealt with by Magistrates and by the Supreme Court. A Magistrate can only deal with simple assaults and petty larcenies, breaches of by-laws, and other mere police offences; whilst the Supreme Court deals with graver questions of theft, and all the higher crimes, felonies, and misdemeanours. Taking the statistics of the two years, it will be seen that in 1864 the total number of convictions (exclusive of Maoris) in Magistrates' Courts page 14 was 11,357, being at the rate of 65.95 per 1,000 of population, whilst in 1884 it was 17,068 or 31.98 per 1,000 of the mean population, showing that, though our population has increased, our crime has greatly decreased. Of these, the convictions for drunkenness amounted to 6,527; hut it is to be observed that, if one person is convicted five, six, or a dozen times, each conviction is counted as if it had been a separate offender, and therefore the proportion of persons convicted to the population cannot be given, but only the proportion of convictions—viz., 11.81 to 1,000 of population for drunkenness. The convictions before the superior Courts in 1866 were 282, and 1884 219, or 0.39 per 1,000.

There has been a gradual decrease in the number of offences against the person. There were only 871 in 1884, the proportion being 1.57 per 1,000 of population. The proportion of offences against property in 1884 was 2.14 per thousand of population.

Including offences dealt with summarily, and also in the higher Courts, compared with the other colonies New Zealand stands the lowest in the criminal record, being, for offences against the person and against property, 3.71 per 1,000, whilst in Victoria there were 3.86; South Australia, page 15 4.05; Tasmania, 6.98; Queensland, 7.80; and in New South Wales, 10.67. In juvenile crime New Zealand is also exceedingly low, and no doubt that has been caused by the elaboration of the industrial-school system, which has been permanently adopted in New Zealand. The Government has industrial-school institutions directly under its control in Auckland (at Newton and Kohimarama, treated as one school), at Burnham in Canterbury, and at Caversham in Otago. In connection with these three institutions there were the following children at the close of 1884: Resident in the schools, 432; boarded with foster-parents, 384: making a total of 816 maintained at the expense of the State. There were also 347 children at service or with friends, although still under the legal protection of the managers of the schools. There is also an industrial school and orphanage at the Thames, supported by the Government, but under the management of a local Committee, in connection with which there were at the end of the year 1884 seventeen committed children, five of whom were at service or with friends. There are also what may be termed private institutions to which children are sent, for whom the Government pays, as a rule, about 7s. per week, these are: St. Mary's School in Auckland, St. Joseph's in Wellington, and St. Mary's in Nelson. These institutions are Roman Catholic.

The children committed under the industrial-school system are of three classes: Children who themselves have done wrong, children who were in destitute circumstances, or whose parents have either done wrong or neglected them. The total number committed under the Act in 1884 was 313, who may be classified as follows: Destitute, 195; vagrant, 11; residing in disreputable houses, 23; uncontrollable, 27; guilty of punishable offences, 37; committed by agreement with the parents, 20.

It may also be noticed that, though crime has decreased, a great number of those who are in our gaols are what may be termed "habitual criminals" or "habitual drunkards." In 1884 there were 483 males and 81 females who had been page 16 once convicted, 282 males and 65 females who had been-twice convicted, and 720 males and 579 females who had been convicted three or more times. The birthplaces of the prisoners were as follows:—

	Nationality to 100 of Total Prisoners.	Nationality to every 100 Persons at Census of 1881.
New Zealand	9.10	45.60
Australian Colonies and other British possessions	5.72	4.35
England and Wales	33.57	24.73
Scotland	13.14	10.77
Ireland	30.13	10.08
China	60	1.03
Other foreign countries	7.74	3.44

It will be necessary now to note the provision that has been made during the past twenty years for those things that tend to increase the happiness of the people—providing for their social enjoyment and intellectual life. We have libraries in every village. In Auckland there are a museum and a public library, as well as an art gallery. Wellington has a large library, a very fine museum, and a library of scientific works connected with the Scientific Institute. In Christchurch there is a magnificent museum—better, indeed, than either the one in Melbourne or in Sydney. It has also a large public library. In Dunedin there are a very fine museum and an art society, which holds exhibitions of pictures once a year. Art societies are formed also in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. There are a University library, an Otago Institute library, principally for scientific works, and a large athenaeum library—all in Dunedin. Invereargill has a handsome athenaeum building. A test of the desire for information amongst colonists may be obtained by a comparison of the newspapers published in New Zealand, and the books and literature imported, as well as the newspapers posted. The value of books imported in 1884 was £115,216. This does not include magazines, newspapers, &c., and books coming by post. Then, the number of newspapers published was 49 daily and 91 weekly, bi-weekly, and tri-weekly, and 32 others, making a total of 172, or one to every 3,281 of the population. In England and Wales the number was 1,962 newspapers, or 1 to every 13,828; in Ireland, 152 newspapers, or 1 to every 32,585; in Scotland, 184 news- page 18 papers, or 1 to every 21,013; and in the United States, 10,771 newspapers, or 1 to every 4,656 of the population. There are theatres in every town, also concert halls, musical societies, and debating societies, and the New Zealand Institute—an institute founded for scientific purposes—has no less than eight branches. A handsome volume is published every year giving the researches of the members, and its pages show that great attention is paid to the natural history of the colony. In 1864, though there were the nuclei of libraries, there had been little development in that direction, nor were there any museums in existence; and the New Zealand Institute was only incorporated by Act in 1867.