In 1876, New Zealand, previously divided into ten provinces, was divided into 52 counties and boroughs. The first census of the colony by counties was taken March 3, 1878, and included Chinese and half-castes and persons on shipboard. The number of Chinese was 4,382, of whom only eight were females. The census of 1886 gave the total population as 620,451, including 41,969 Maoris. This included 4,542 Chinese, of whom only 15 were females. The average density of the population was 5.56 per square mile, and of the population outside towns 3.16. Of the total white population in 1886, 560,598, or 96.91 per cent., were British-born subjects. Of the total population, 300,190, or 51.89 per cent., were born in New Zealand; 233,856, or 40-43 per cent., born in the United Kingdom (125,657 in England, 1,981 in Wales, 54,810 in Scotland, and 51,408 in Ireland).

Of the total population in 1886, 64.43 per cent. were returned as domestic (wives, children, servants, &c.); 11.27 as agricultural ; 13-21 industrial; 470 commercial; 2-16 professional.

The number of births, deaths, and marriages was as follows in each of the five years from 1882 to 1886 :

In 1886 there were 602 illegitimate births, or 3.12 per cent. of the total births; no record is kept of still-births. The total number of persons convicted of crime before the supreme and district courts in 1886 was 286.

At the census of 1886 there were four towns with upwards of 10,000 inhabitants in New Zealand—namely, Auckland, 33,161, with suburbs 57,048; Wellington, 25,945, with suburbs 27,833; Christchurch, 15,265, with suburbs 44,688; and Dunedin, 23,243, with suburbs 45,518 inhabitants. All the towns largely increased in number of inhabitants between the enumerations of 1874 and 1886.

It appears that in 1858 there were 43,595 Maoris in the whole colony. In 1881 the Maori population was returned as 44,097, the larger number in that year being doubtless due to a better enumeration, not to an increase in the numbers of the race. In March 1886 the total Maori population was ascertained to be 41,969, of whom 22,840 were males and 19,129 females. The total number

(41,969) includes 2,251 half-castes living as members of Maori tribes, and also 201 Maori wives of European husbands.

The total number of immigrants and of emigrants, and the surplus of immigrants into the colony over emigrants, was as follows in each of the five years from 1882 to 1886 :

:

The population of New Zealand is increasing more rapidly than that of any of the other Australasian colonies, by natural increment, the excess of births over deaths.

Trade and Industry.

The following table exhibits the value of the total imports and exports of the colony in each of the five years 1882 to 1886 :

The following table shows the values of imports from the different countries for the year 1886

The following table gives the value of the principal imports and xports in 1886 :

The commercial intercourse between New Zealand and the United Kingdom is shown in the following table according to the Board of Trade Returns for each of the five years 1882-86 :—

The staple article of export from New Zealand to the United Kingdom is wool, the quantities and value of which in England were as follows in each of the five years from 1882 to 1886 :

Next to wool, the most important articles of export from New Zealand to Great Britain in 1886 were grain and flour, of the value of 150,0871.; gum, of the value of 132,2561.; tallow and stearine, of the value of 148,8487.; fresh mutton, amounting in value to 15,6407. in 1882, 653,6347. in 1884, 704,919. in 1885, 768,424 in 1886; preserved meat, 32,7761.; and leather, of the value of 103,3257. in 1886.

The British imports comprise mainly iron, of the value of 346,3531.; apparel and haberdashery, of the value of 432,4571.; woollens, of the value of 300,8807.; and cottons, of the value of 356,8627. in 1886.

In 1886, 725 vessels of 502,572 tons entered the ports of New Zealand, and 707 of 488,331 tons cleared. All but 75 vessels of the former and 75 of the latter belonged to Britain and her colonies.

Agriculture, stock-raising, and gold mining are the most important industries of the colony. The total extent of occupied holdings over one acre in 1886 was 27,848,690, of which 11,728,236 acres were freehold of occupier, and 10,771,616 acres rented from the Crown for pastoral purposes. The following table shows the number of holdings of various sizes, and number of acres held in freehold and leasehold, exclusive of Crown lands held for pastoral purposes in 1886:

The total acreage under crops (including 5,553,781 acres in sown grasses and 163,241 acres broken up but not under crops) in New Zealand, in 1887, was 6,845,177, of which 661,788 were under grain crops (wheat, oats, and barley). The production of wheat in 1887 was 6,297,638 bushels, and of oats 11,973,295 bushels. The average produce of the different crops per acre was in 1887 as follows:

1 Leased by occupiers from others than the Crown.

The production of butter for the year 1885 amounted to 12,170,964 lbs., and that of cheese to 4,594,795 lbs. In the year 1880 the butter made was 8,453,815 lbs., and cheese 3,178,694 lbs. The live stock of the colony consisted, in March 1887, of 187,382 horses; 853,358 cattle; 16,580,388 sheep (14,624,547 in 1885); 278,669 pigs; and 1,679,021 head of poultry. The greatest increase of live stock in recent years was in sheep. They numbered 1,523,324 in 1858; 4,937,273 in 1864; 9,700,629 in 1871, and 11,704,853 in 1874.

Extensive gold-fields were discovered in 1857. The gold exports amounted to 355,322 ounces, valued at 1,407,770l., in 1875; to 371,685 ounces, valued at 1,496,0807., in 1877; to 230,893 ounces, valued at 921,6647., in 1882; to 222,899 ounces, valued at 892,445l., in 1883; to 246,393 ounces, valued at 988,9537., in 1884; to 222,732 ounces, valued at 890,056/., in 1885; and to 235,578 ounces, valued at 939,6481., in 1886. The total value of the gold entered for export from the colony up to Dec. 31, 1886, was 43,231,4761. The bulk of the gold mining is on Government land.

There were 110 coal mines in New Zealand in 1886, the produce for the year being 534,343 tons.

The following table shows the leading manufactories and works in the colony, the hands employed, value of capital invested, and of produce or manufacture :