No. 8. Comparative Abstracts, showing the Population; the state of Education; the Land Fenced in and under Crop; and the amount of Live Stock, in the respective years 1851, 1855, and 1857.

Arrangement of Districts.

It will be observed that in most of the Tables the City of Auckland is distinguished from the other parts of the Province. This, however, is but one step towards an object which,—notwithstanding the difficulties arising out of the extent of the Province, the manner in which the European Population is scattered over it, and other causes,—I should at least have attempted, had there been time to mature the arrangements which would have been necessary for correctly apportioning to the Collectors, Districts distinctly defined according to the Electoral or other recognised divisions. But, it being required by the Census Ordinance that the Schedules should be delivered at the houses on or before the 25th of March, and only one Collector having proceeded to his District before the 6th, it devolved upon me,—not only to fix the Districts, and to appoint to them Collectors from the List placed in my hands,—but to despatch the Collectors with all practicable speed to the remoter parts of the Province. The matter of primary importance appeared obviously to be, that, as far as possible, every locality in the Province should be included in the District of one Collector or another; and, to secure this object, it was unavoidable, under the circumstances, to subordinate the desirable, but less urgent, object of obtaining the information in a form admitting of accurate classification according to a number of geographical or political sub-divisions.

Substantially, however, provision has been made for any reference that may be required in relation to particular Districts, by making up the Schedules brought in by the several Collectors in separate and clearly labelled parcels; and by a description of the Districts assigned to the Collectors respectively, a copy of which is transmitted herewith.

It may be proper to offer a few remarks on the statistical information contained in the Tables.

Population.

No. 1, showing the aggregate of the Population, exhibits a remarkable increase on the numbers returned in 1855. The Abstract has, however, been carefully compiled from Schedules containing an enumeration of all the individuals comprehended in the Total. Any error here,—(if not wilful, which there is no reason to suspect),—must evidently be in the way of omission, not exaggeration; leaving the Population at least as large as is stated. Indeed some deficiency is known to exist; with regard, for example, to persons at sea, or absent from the Colony on the 31st of March, for whose enumeration no provision is made.

One deduction, however, to which some may possibly think the Total liable, is in the case of a certain number of Half-Castes, (495), who,—having been returned by their Fathers, (or other Householders by whom the information in the Schedules was supplied),—as members of the respective families, seemed to have a recognition and identification entitling them to be included in the Returns. Any person who may think differently can easily bring the Total into accordance with his view by subtracting from it the number of Half-Castes, which is specified in a note appended to the Table.

Forty-five Maori women were returned as wives of Europeans. These are not included.

Race.

The term "Race" appears to have been variously understood, and an Ethnologist might find matter of curious speculation in some of the entries in this column of the Schedules. Such cases, however, are exceptional,—the great bulk of the Population being particularised with sufficient clearness as "English," "Irish," or "Scotch," with smaller numbers as "French," "German," &c. But the term "British" occurred in so many instances as to induce me, notwithstanding its comparative vagueness, to give it a separate column in the Table. The general rule observed in the compilation was to regard the children as belonging to the same "Race" with the fathers. This may perhaps account for the circumstance that only 39 persons now appear as of "New