92

Houses.
Sick or Infirm.

It has been found convenient to add to this Table (No. 4) the number of Houses, and the numbers returned as Sick or Infirm,—including the Patients in the Provincial Hospital and the Lunatic Asylum.

Education.

Table No. 5 is devoted to the results of the Census in relation to Education. It will be seen that the Returns show a proportion of rather more than 60 per cent. of the entire Population, of all ages, as able to read and write,—an encouraging amount, even admitting that the standard of capability may in some instances have been placed low. The total number reported as attending Public or Private Schools (Day or Sunday, or both,) is 2640,—a number which perhaps may be open to some deduction for occasional instances in which the Schedules may have been so filled up as to count the same children twice (in the different kinds of School); but an important addition to which might be made, on the other hand, if the amount of Home Education (some of it of a very superior class) existing in the Province, could be taken into account. The number of the Population between the ages of 5 and 15—(the period within which attendance on school is usually comprehended)—is 4282. Thus,—so far as the Schedules show, and subject to such qualifying considerations as those just indicated—there are 1642 children and young persons within what may be called the school-going period of life, who do not attend any school, whether Day or Sunday. It would be out of place here to comment upon either the matter of encouragement or the incentives to exertion suggested by these figures. The present object is simply to supply statistical facts, which, no doubt, will obtain such attention as they may deserve from those especially interested in the vitally important subject of Education.

Crops.

The season of the year fixed for taking the Census operates seriously against the completeness and accuracy of the Returns of Crops. Some farmers would judge that they should report the Crops of the last harvest,—(which seems the best, because the most definite, course, and was that which I desired, as far as practicable, to have carried out); but others would think it preferable to enter the Crops they anticipated in the coming harvest;—while others, again, having no crops actually in progress on the 31st of March, would make no entry in the columns. As respects the Grain and Potato Crops, therefore, the figures cannot, I apprehend, be relied on as full and accurate; indeed there seems little doubt that they are below the amount of cultivation which would have been exhibited had the Census been taken at another season,—say in the month of December, instead of at the end of March.

Land Fenced in.
Artificial Grass.
Live Stock.

No such exception requires to be made, however, with respect to the quantity of Land Fenced in;—to the quantity laid down in Artificial Grass;—or to the amount of Live Stock, all of which show a striking and gratifying increase. These particulars are contained in Tables No. 6 and No. 7.

Comparative tables.

The Abstracts in Table No. 8 afford ready means for a comparison of the state of the Province, with regard to some of the most important elements and evidences of prosperity, in the respective years 1851, 1855, and 1857. A review of these Comparative Tables will show a marked, and (all things considered) a very gratifying advance.

I have the honor to be,

Sir,

Your Honor’s most obedient servant,

JOHN B. BENNETT.

His Honor
The Superintendent,
Auckland.